ey Tk ORT
KONE ae US

meetin

care Be

My
Ma
Bb wid

(

oe ya Wine

Cornell Aniversity Library

BOUGHT WITH THE INCOME
FROM THE

SAGE ENDOWMENT FUND

THE GIFT OF
Henry W. Sage

1891

4.21096 | ee ee eels ee CD ee pip.

9963

RETURN TO
ALBERT R. MANN LIBRARY

ITHACA, N. Y.

Cornell Universi

The natural history of British meadow an

Cornell University

Library

The original of this book is in
the Cornell University Library.

There are no known copyright restrictions in
the United States on the use of the text.

http :/Awww.archive.org/details/cu31924001736242

BRITISH GRASSES.

A. Fibres.
A’. Rhizome.

B. Culm.
Joint.
C. Node

Poa pratensis.

D’. Sheath. E. Glumes. H. Pollen. I. Seeds.
D’. Ligule. F. Glumels. H’. Filament. Xk’. Style.
D’”, Blade. HH’. Anther, K”. Stigma.

N. Barren Shoot.

THE

NATURAL HISTORY

BRITISH MEADOW AND PASTURE
GRASSES,

WITH AN ACOOUNT OF THEIR

ECONOMY AND AGRICULTURAL INDICATIONS.

BY

JAMES BUCKMAN, F.LS., F.GS., FSA. &.

PROFESSOR OF NATURAL HISTORY IN THE ROYAL AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, AND
LECTURER ON SCIENCE AT THE CHELTENHAM PROPRIETORY COLLEGE,

LONDON:
HAMILTON, ADAMS, & Co.

EDWIN BAILY, CIRENCESTER,

1858.

CIRENCESTER =
PRINTED BY EDWIN BAILY.

PREFACE.

Tue following pages, it is hoped, may contain such
information upon the useful tribe of plants to which they
refer as may be of use in directing a larger share of atten-

tion to the subject of meadows.

The notes herein contained are mostly the result of
direct observation and attention to individual species, both
in their wild state and in cultivation, to which has been
added Notes upon the Agricultural qualities or indications

of the species commented upon.

As regards descriptions of species, it must be confessed
that, after all, these can seldom be rendered quite intel-
ligible without specimens or drawings; but as this little
volume is meant principally as an indicator of the value of
a study of Grasses to the Agricultural Student and the
observant Farmer, it is hoped that specimens will be col-
lected by them, and such drawings made of them when in a

fresh state, as may assist in this interesting study.

iv PREFACE.

The Author has made portraits of nearly all British
species, from which his observations are mainly drawn; and
for examples of some of the rarer ones he tenders his best
thanks to H. C. Watson, Esq.: he also confesses his obli-
gations to the Council of the Royal Agricultural Society,
for their permission to use the two drawings with which the
book is now illustrated, as well as the matter which formed

part of a series of papers to the Society’s Journal by

THE AUTHOR.

CONTENTS.

CuHaprer I.
Pace.
Naturat History or British Grasses... a oe)
TaBe 1, showing the relative Growth of Grasses in , diferent situa-
tions .. -. 10
TABLE 2, seppenting thse ‘Ghaneca of ne siniiee Titipation ee AL
Taxuz 3, representing the Changes of Herbs found with Grasses .. 12
Diseases of Grasses os ee 3 re of ss ee
Cuapter II.
Tur Structure ann Economy or British GRassEs oe Sg il
Anatomy of Grasses fe 8 ee si 8 a we DL
Classification a ss we ts es st = «. 30
Analysis of Genera oe “9 a sit = ay .. 31
Cuaprer ITT.
THe AGRICULTURAL Economy or BritisH GRASSES ste .. 83
Agrostis, Experiments with ad Pe aa oe es .. 38
Poa, ditto .. es ay wi ae ss a .. ol
Festuca, ditto .. a2 - be oF sé ae .. 59
Bromus, ditto .. a a +. si ba i .. 64

Avena ditto .. - Me ke we aa bs .. 67

Cuarrer I.

NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES.

Tue importance to the agriculturist of a knowledge of the
pasture or meadow grasses which are everywhere found in
our fields is now so generally recognised that little need be
said to enforce its value, especially when it is considered
how much of the land of this country is still in natural pas-
ture, and even that under tillage may at some time or ano-
ther be required to be laid down in pasture of a permanent
form, or be employed from time to time in the cultivation
of grasses as a shifting crop. But however much a know-
ledge of this useful tribe of plants may have been desired
by the student, yet he has been mostly repelled from its
pursuit by the difficulties ever attendant upon distinguish-
ing genera and species of large vegetable families, without
which little progress can be made; and this is the more
felt, the more natural the groups and the closer their affi-
nities, and more especially so in the grasses, as the whole
tribe is a highly natural one, the same principles of struc-
ture prevailing in all; so that distinctive characters have
to be sought for in the differences presented by minute
details: the more obvious parts, as leaves, have the same
uniform type in all the species—they may be longer, nar-
rower, broader, smooth, rough, hairy, and the like, but they
have ever the same general outline; but if we compare the
leaves of another family of plants, as, for example, the
Leguminose, or Pea tribe—also a very natural group—these
show at a glance the broad distinctive characters of bifoliate,
trifoliate, pinnate, and others, all of which point to differences
readily apprehended by even the most casual observation in
the field, and, as a consequence, greatly lessen the labour of
B

4 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES.

studying descriptions in the different botanical and agricul-
tural works devoted to them.

But again, the facts above glanced at show that it is
almost impossible to study the grasses with that celerity
requisite to engage the attention of the non-botanical
inquirer without engravings of many of the species; and.
this, in the form in which it has hitherto been done, renders
works upon them too expensive for general use, and even
when obtained they will be found rather to present botanical
than agricultural matter; these, however, have to a con-
siderable extent been admirably combined in Sinelair’s
Graminea Woburnensis. But as in the present day ad-
ditional knowledge has been obtained upon grasses, the
combined results of experiments and observations by the
cultivator, the chemist, and the botanist, it seems desirable
to claim attention for some notes upon the subject in a
manner which may come the more immediately before the
eye of the intelligent farmer and the general student; and
in the accomplishment of this object it is intended to offer a
series of notices having reference to the following subjects:—

1. General observations on the Natural History of
Grasses.

2. The Structure and Anatomy of Grasses, and the Clas-
sification founded thereon.

3. Descriptions of Genera and Species, with notices of
their qualities and distribution.

1. General Observations on the Natural History of the
British Grasses —Grasses, as they appear over the surface
of the globe, naturally divide themselves into two sections
—Cereal or cultivated corn-grasses, and Natural or wild
grasses.

Now, the first do not appear to grow anywhere as wild
plants, but may in all cases be deemed as derivatives ob-
tained from wild examples by cultivation through a long
series of years, and hence the varieties—not species—-which
will be found to abound in all of them. These variations
maintain a great permanency of form if the circumstances

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES. 5

of cultivation be strictly maintained, but left to themselves
they would either die out altogether, or revert once again
to some original wild type.

The natural grasses, which it is the object of these papers
to illustrate, may, for convenience, be divided into the
following groups :—

1. Jungle, or Bush Grasses.

2. Aquatic, or Water Grasses.
3. Marine, or Seaside Grasses.
4. Meadow, or Pasture Grasses.
5. Agrarian, or fallow Grasses.

1. Jungle grasses are those which for the most part have
a tendency to grow in a distinctive and separate manner,
assuming in some tropical examples, where they reach their
maximum, the height of 50 or 60 feet, presenting more the
aspect of trees than the lowly herbs of our northern species.

In our own country, though we fall far short in size, yet
many of our species have the same disposition of growing
in distinct bunches, having no inclination to form a matted
turf, but mix with shrubs, or grow as separate plants beneath
tall trees, or maintain a distinctive form even in meadows.
Of these the following may be appealed to as examples :—

Aira cespitosa—Turfy hair-grass (hassock-grass of farm-
ers).

Avena pratensis—Narrow-leaved oat-grass.

Brachipodium pinnatwun—Heath false brome-grass.

5 sylwaticwn—Slender false brome-grass.

Elymus Europeus—W 00d lyme-grass.

Festuca elatior—Tall fescue-grass.

There are other grasses which, if cultivated by them-
selves, assume the same distinctive, and even cushion form
of growth, as

Festuca ovina*—Sheep’s fescue.

* This is almost the only grass which will grow beneath the tall beech
groves of the Cotteswolds, though never in a matted turf, but always in
distinct hassocks. It grows the same in my experimental plot in the
Botanical Garden of the Royal Agricultural College.

B2

6 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF RBITISH GRASSES.

Festuca duriuscula—Hard fescue.
Dactylis glomerata—Cocksfoot.

These always grow in tufts when sown thin for perma-
nent pasture, if the land be poor, but is soon prevented by
depasturing, bush, or fine-tine harrowing and rolling: these
operations take away all mosses and dying grasses which
have a tendency to rot, and thus form a humus soil around
the roots—a circumstance prejudicial to the growth of good
turf. Rolling presses the whole together, and makes the
soil firmer, a matter of great consequence in maintaining a
pasture. Indeed, fertilizers and mechanical processes may
be looked upon as the means which, after all, keep meadows
in the form we now see them; as in truly wild nature, there
would be a greater tendency to a distinctive mode of growth
than to the formation of a matted turf, as even simply
depasturing supplies to a considerable extent, all the requi-
sites I have adverted to, as necessary for the prevention of
the jungle mode of growth, in many even of our meadow
grasses.

2. Aquatic or Water Grasses are those which elect to
grow by the margins of rivers, in brooks and ditches, or
around the edges of ponds. These are not very numerous,
nor are they generally of any agricultural value; at the
same time, as they may sometimes be seen, especially in
summer, without the contiguity of surface water, they afford
excellent indications of a swampy and wet soil; and as
some of them prefer stagnant water, when they occur in
ditches, or in the open meadow, these should at once inform
us that our drainage is imperfect, and point to the neces-
sity of draining if not previously done, or if already drained
to the cleaning out of ditches, and looking more particularly
to their levels. The following are amongst some of our
more common water-grasses :—

Arundo Phragmites—Common reed.

Phalaris arundinacea—Reed canary-grass.
Glyceria aquatica (Poa)—Reed meadow-grass.
Poa fluitans—Floating meadow-grass.

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES. 7

Catabrosa aquatica—W ater whorl-grass.
Alopecurus geniculatus—Floating foxtail-grass.
Molinia cerulea (Melica)—Purple melic-grass.
Aira cespitosa—Hassock-grass.

Of these, the four first mostly grow in water. The first,
however, frequently occurs in damp meadows, especially in
their hedge-rows; the four last may be found on oozy mud
banks, thus often directing to a watershed or spring. The
two last more especially affect furrows, and the neighbour-
hood of a defective drain.

3. Marine or Sea-side Grasses.—Under this head we may
just glance at a list of grasses which particularly affect the
sea-coast ; the contiguity of salt-water, and banks of sand or
marine mud, being requisite for their growth in a natural
state. Of these, the following may serve as examples :—

Ammophila arundinacea—Sea-reed or matweed.
Elymus arenarius—Upright sea-lyme-grass.
Spartina stricta—Twin-spiked cord-grass.

” alternifolia—Many-spiked cord-grass.
Poa procumbens—Procumbent sea meadow-grass.

Marine grasses are for the most part exceedingly harsh,
so that cattle cannot eat them; bué some of them have
their uses in keeping together the loose sands of the sea-
shore. This they do by their creeping rhizome* (under-
ground stem), which, running in every direction, forms a
thick matting in the sand. It is on this account that the
two first of the above-named are carefully preserved, not
only on our own shores, but those of Holland, as a good
natural safeguard against the encroachments of the sea.

4. Meadow Grasses.—By far the greater number of our
British grassey may be arranged under this head. They
are those which supply us with the hay store, as also pas-
ture for cattle; and as pastures occur over the country
under the widely differing circumstances of climate, eleva-

* A specimen of the rhizome (erroneously called the root) of Am-

mophila arundinacea, upwards of 30 feet in length, was communicated
to me by my friend and pupil, Mr. George Maw.

8 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES.

tion, soil, and modes of farming, a due and attentive study
of the tribe should, upon examination of a district, enable
us to arrive at facts with regard to the nature and value of
any tract of ground with almost as much certainty as
though we had resided upon the soil for some time, and had
drawn our conclusions from what is called “ practical expe-
rience ;” and yet after all, though one is termed “scientific”
and the other “ practical,” they are equally the results of
observation, and both constitute knowledge of a practical
kind.

But besides this, it becomes necessary to study the
meadow-grasses, in order to enable us to bring about those
changes which may result in the amelioration of property,
and as we know the influence exercised by the circum-
stances just noted, so we may be enabled to decide as to
the kinds of grasses to use in such cases as the laying down
of new pastures; and the method of ameliorative, or other
culture to be adopted in that which already exists. Indeed
this is just as important in farming, unless it be empirical,
as the understanding the anatomy of the animal frame
before attempting to prescribe for its treatment under the
many conditions in which it may be placed.

Now, in order to enforce this argument, it will be well to
glance at the distribution of our more common meadow-
grasses under the following heads :—

a. Upland pastures, thin soils.

b. Poor stiff soils, “hungry clays.”

ce, Rich deep loams.

d. Meadows on the banks of rivers subject to periodical
floods.

e. Irrigated meadows, in which the water can be entirely
controlled.

In the Table (p. 10), therefore, are arranged twenty spe-
cies; in it the first and second columns are devoted to the
botanical and trivial names of the grasses tabulated. The
columns, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, have reference to their distribu-
tion, the figures in these columns representing the propor-

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES. 9

tionals of each species in their respective situations ; and as
this latter point is one which is exceedingly difficult to
ascertain with perfect exactitude, it may be stated that the
results have been arrived at by long observation and great,
pains-taking ; and if only approximating to truth, they will
equally serve the object now in view, namely, that of show-
ing the preference of some grasses for one set of circum-
stances before another.

The facts noted in the Table are mostly derived from
observations made in the upland or Cotteswold district, and
the vale or lowland part of Gloucestershire, and, therefore,
not perhaps strictly true for all parts of England; yet I do
not doubt but that they are correct as to their more general
principles.

Now, from this Table we learn that the kinds of soils
noted have not only diferent species of grasses, but when
the same do occur in lands of an opposite character, they
are mostly very much altered in their proportionals.

The differences between good, as compared with bad pas-
tures, are in many cases the result of attention and good
cultivation. Let us, for instance, suppose a poor clay ameli-
orated. We must not then expect that its list of grasses
will remain the same, or in the same proportions as are
here tabulated; on the contrary bad grasses, which are ever
present toa greater or less extent in every pasture, will
nearly all die out, or if not so they greatly improve in
quality, whilst many good ones, of which scarcely an ex-
ample could be found before, rapidly increase.

And, again, the many herbaceous plants distinct from
grasses—such as Plantago media, broad-leafed plantain ;
Bellis perennis, common daisy; and Ranunculus bulbosus,
bulbous crowfoot; and many others—give place to a growth
of grasses.

This may be the more particularly observed in lands set
apart for irrigation, as in such cases the changes are often
very rapid; hence observations of these cases are very in-
structive. Take the following example of a meadow in the

O0T 0} OF 0g 4 gT ot “ gsutaay f°" aroe rad quay
OF 04 08 of ST OI Th ie ne “ 9Svaaay [arov rad Avy Jo yunoury
) ‘sernqsed deap poos ut 3vq} eyquop st 4t fysIT ‘UT
g 0} SUIIZe WOpfes JI spurdn uy ‘sa.njsed ysour UT z z g T T ssviS-oft [vlumetag j*' outed umYoT ‘0g
‘TMYO 9q} Jo Aay[va oY} Ut ‘spjoy Avy att} ul JUepuNge
AIA ‘spuLydn jo sjred AYO aq Ul saqoj}ed url wazO z iG z I I r+ gserg-Lopaeg plata | astezerd umepaloyy “61
“g[los poo ut Aypider sasvarour £90u0a1.10900 [vI9UES JO € ra z I ce Z ** ssvrZ-zoojsyo0g | vzeIAMIO[S sTpAJIVq “gt
“spuvydn snoarteoyeo 03 AyAvtnoad ssuojag oe ore ae nee T r+ sgvi3-autoiq yqystidg |['** snzoale snwMoIg *ZT
*a{saoUaLIQ Iveu ‘UINYO aq} UO pur ‘projxO
yw ‘sIsl ay} JO SHUR oq} UO ‘eA. Spoog UT ouy ATOA rd id I re “* onosay payldg |’ ‘eaovt[oy OL
*satnjsed poods ul spunoqgy T I v6 “* gnosey Mopvayy |” stsuezerd eT
“eas oT} Ivau sainjsed Apuvs ut
osye { saopvoUT YoIt uy ‘Juenbeay you YSnoy} ‘uLA1o; ¥ 7 rd soe ““anosey Sutdaarg |(qwa) vaqua ET
*soovtd ysour
Ul Sseq IO aLo0UL simd90 ynq ‘woz purydn ue osTy I . T rd anosaj prey | vfmosniimp «sey
“ssvig puvjdn ue sjaatjue ysompy ae oe P anosay s,daayg |" BULAO VON}SAT ‘SI
‘sarnjsed poos ur [ensn jou
‘smopvom AYsIeM IO yULUseys UT ATpIdva sasvatouy t I I Pes ggei8-3JOS MOPVOTL SNyVUL] SNOOP ‘Tl
‘puvy AqZeeq 100d ul JuLpuNgE W230 oR z I 'SBI8-JeO PIAvI| MOLIVN |***stsuazeid oO
*s[IOS pooS ul yuURpUNgeE ySORL z T I oe eH E SSB.13-}O AOTIAA |'"* Stadsaaey aE ag
“SMOPRITH UT JURJsUOD ATQeIETOL T T t I SSvIS-}e0 YJOS |" susvsaqnd vuaay *g
*sjtos 100d ur ATUO ne ‘ie oe z T eee ““* gsuis-SuTyeNd |" eIpeul uzlig "4
"TONVSLUT yoojiad sapun
sasvatoep {saopeat yueusejs ut ATHoMb sasvarouy I z 'se13-Mopratd YsTysnoy | sTTeIALyy “+g
*SMOPLOUL SOUL UL e T z t I + sseig-aopvam ppl |'* sisuajeid vog *¢
*spus 10 “tunsoeu
suo Jo 1eq}1e stios 100d ut ydeoxe “uepunge toAoN ef me I € SsvId OATIVO |-aav UNI eUayAIY ‘“F
"ssvi3 pood B sat0deq JI Ueyss “WOT}
-e311m rJepun Aypidex sprordg ‘ayyyeo Aq pasny
-a1 AT[etoued st ff oreqy a ‘spur[dn tood yt ut sin900 z I : z queq YsSiep_ | elayTUOTO}s stysolsy *¢
“Tos pooS ut jae} Z “GsIY ‘UT gG yHoqe Aju pur] tood uy G I id z a “* ssvis <yjouULy, |" ssuezeid wey *%
*1a}}0q saTODeq [IOs
oq} sv Appider Suisvarout ‘q}K018 UT apquiiva AOA g Z z 1 ““"TIeyXoy MOptaR |stsuazead snanoadorTy *|
rsaopvopl |ssopvayy | ‘SmvoT | “sfepQ |'stlos uryy
poyestay | pepoo,, | Wont | 100g ‘sornysed
. z . 0: : “gUreN Te: ee 5 ‘1
‘SHUVNAL A 9 $ b | PUrIen “€ NIVEL UIVN [LOULIOT *T
“IVNOILMOdOUd

10

‘suoyongg quaiafip ur sassnug fo yynoug aaynjay ey; burnoygy—y] TTaV I,

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES. 11

neighbourhood of Cirencester, a part of which is now under
irrigation.

The meadow observed upon is one on the banks of the
Churn, and from its slope only half of it could be covered
with water. It has a subsoil of oolitic gravel, so that al-
though vale land, its produce was that of a thin upland
pasture. How much it has changed will be seen from the
annexed Table, which is designed to supply information on
the following points :—

1. The names of the grasses observed.

2. The proportions of these observed in the meadow
before irrigation.*

3. The changes effected in two years.

4. Those on the fourth year.

Taprn IT.
Representing the Changes of Grasses under Irrigation.

Proportionals.
Botanical Names. Trivial Names. ee ’ After j After
. . rs’ re?
Timigetion, Dit gation, ieteation,
Alopecurus pratensis | Meadow foxtail-grass 1 2 4
Poa pratensis... ..| Field meadow-grass. . 2 3 4
» trivialis .. ..} Roughish meadow-grs 1 2 1
Briza media .. Quaking-grass .. 2 oF ne
Cynosurus cristatus | Dogstail-grass .. .. 2 1 és
Aira ceespitosa ..| Hassock-grass .. .. 1 ie as
Agrostis stolonifera | Marsh bent grass 1 2 3
Dactylis glomerata..| Cocksfoot-grass. . 1 2 3
Avena flavescens ..| Yellow oat-grass 2 3 3
35 pubescens ..| Soft oat-grass .. 1 1 1
Hordeum pratense ..} Meadow barley- grass 1 2 2
Lolium perenne’ ..| Perennial rye-grass . 2 4 6

This field has trebled in value in four years.

This Table shows us that all the better grasses have
increased, if we except the Poa trivialis and Hordeum pra-
tense, in which cases there has been an increase in grasses

* The whole meadow is now improved, as it has been much depas-

tured: and cattle have ranged the unirrigated as well as the irrigated
portion: thus irrigating half a meadow tends to improve the whole.

12 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES.

not possessing the best character. Now, with respect to
the first of these, it should be noted that though it in-
creased rapidly up till the third year, it is now declining.
This. is explained on the supposition that the drainage of
the irrigated part was at first imperfect, and the water was
consequently left in a partially stagnant state: this is often
the case with such meadows on their first formation, but
ultimately the water conduits become better managed, and
they act more perfectly. And again, these changes become
more evident where there is a gravelly subsoil: stiff clays,
without a stratum of lighter matter, seldom succeed so well
under irrigation.

So much, therefore, for the changes which take place in
the grasses: now if we take into consideration the same set
of facts, as presented by herbs of other families, the alter-
ation is still more striking, as attested by the following
Table :—

Tasre ITI.
Representing the changes of Herbs found with the Grasses.

Proportionals.

Botanical Names. Trivial Names. ae After After

Irrigation.) 2 years’ | 4 years’
= Irrigation. Irrigation.

Ranunculus acris_ . .| Upright meadow crowfoot| 1 3 1
bulbosus | Bulbous crowfoot .. 3 1 ss

Plantago lanceolata | Narrow-leaved plantain 3 1 1
media ..| Broad-leaved plantain .. 3 : me
Trifolium repens ..| Dutch clover.. an 2 As
pratense...) Broad clover. : 1 2 2
Anthriscus vulgaris | Common beaked parsley 1 2 1

Now this Table points out the important fact that large
and innutritious herbs in pasture are destroyed by irriga-
tion, and the previous one makes it clear that their places
are supplied by the grasses. However, the beaked parsley
sometimes increases at first, and though it soon gets less,
it is not entirely eradicated without pulling ; this should be
done, as it takes up much room, and is of little use itself.

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES. 13

Docks, too, such as Rumex crispus (curled dock), and
Rumex pratensis (meadow dock), often greatly increase by
irrigation; these, however, are soon destroyed, and if not
allowed to seed give but little trouble.

5. Agrarian Grasses are more properly those which occur
in land under tillage ; they are not a large list, nevertheless
they will be found worthy careful study, as all of them are
weeds and many of them great pests. Some, as the couch
grasses, are troublesome, for their creeping underground
stems as well as growth of herbage. The wild oat occupies
the ground with a larger plant than the cereal with which
it usually grows, whilst others are sure indicators of a low
state of fertility, and often of bad farming. The following
is a list of the Agrarian Grasses :—

Avena fatua—Wild oat.

45 strigosa—Bristle-pointed oat.
Alopecurus agrestis—Slender foxtail-grass.
Bromus mollis—Soft brome-grass.

$5 secalinus—Smooth rye brome-grass.

35 sterilis—Barren brome-grass.
Lolium tremulentwn—Bearded darnel.

Poa trivialis—Roughish meadow-grass.

» annua—Annual meadow-grass.

» compressa—Flat-stemmed creeping meadow-grass.
Triticum repens—Couch-grass.

Agrostis stolonifera—Creeping bent-grass.

Of these, the most mischievous—for all are weeds in
arable—are the couch tribe. These the farmer knows well
how to cope with, and as this is the case, it is somewhat
surprising that there is so much couch to be got rid of
everywhere; this too often arises from the work being
behind-hand, in which case the seed has often to be sown
before the land is clean, and with couch a blade left here
and there is quite sufficient to spread over a field in a
short time.

In the Cotteswold district, where all three of the creep-
ing grasses are in abundance, a distinction is made in them

14 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES.

by the farmer. For instance the Triticwm repens is called
Couch (cooch), whilst the Agrostis stolonifera, and Poa
compressa, are indifferently named Switch, or small couch.
The two latter are held in such detestation by the farmer,
that it is not at all uncommon to hear him say that he
would rather have “fine healthy couch to deal with,”
meaning 7. repens, “ than the nasty benty squitch.”

The Alopecurus agrestis is well known by the name of
“black bent,” and is sometimes a very troublesome weed,
more especially in stiff infertile clays. The Lias Shales, in
the Vale of Gloucester, where unameliorated by drifts, are
often full of it. The Forest Marble on the higher Cottes-
wolds has also a great abundance. Jt is in all cases an
evidence of poor plastic soil, and soon disappears with
draining and good tillage.

The Avena fatua is very common in the stiff lias clays in
the Vale of Gloucester, and it is curious that an objection
urged by the Vale farmer against the sowing of oats, is
that, in his opinion, the scattered grain degenerates into
wild oats. This is a question I shall not discuss at present,
but that wild oats should be dreaded is not wonderful, as in
some instances they completely smother the intended crop,
growing higher than wheat; and as they shed their seeds
before the wheat is ripe, a continued succession is main-
tained. However, even wild oats soon disappear under
good tillage and judicious cropping.

The Loliwm temulentwm (darnel) is the only other species
that need now be commented upon. This grass has large
seeds, which are reputed to possess highly intoxicating pro-
perties, but as it occurs in such small quantities, I have had
no opportunities of testing these qualities, but from the
nature of the case I incline to think that their effects have
been much overrated.

Having now dwelt upon the natural history of grasses as
they occur in the more wild state, it seems proper to note
that some of them are cultivated as shifting crops, and come
in inaregular course of rotation; and though up to the

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES. 15

present time only a few sorts have been so employed, yet it
seems desirable so study the habits of grasses more care-
fully, with a view of increasing this list. For though a
number of plants—not grasses—are cultivated as “ seeds”
or “artificial grasses,” it is quite unnecessary to remark
that these are altogether distinct from the true grasses.
Of the latter, only one species is used to any extent in
seeds, namely, the Lolium perenne (perennial rye-grass).
Of this there are several varieties derived from cultivation,
the best of which is the Italian Rye Grass. Now these two
varieties, namely, Loliwn perenne (common rye-grass), and
Lolium perenne, var. Italicwm (Italian rye-grass), possess
highly valuable properties; they yield nutritive food, and
have an upright mode of growth, so that, while adding
greatly to the weight of the hay, they interfere less than
most other species with the surrounding herbage; but as
they are now universally grown from cultivated seeds, there
is in them a tendency to changes which are not for the
better. This may be shown by attention to the habits of
the Loliwm perenne. In wild nature we see that this grass
is entirely perennial in habit, hence, in depasturing its
green herbage, it stools out very considerably; in cultiva-
tion, however, it grows straight, upright, coarser culms,
which when flowered are cut down for hay. It then has a
less tendency to “tiller,” or “stool,” and much conse-
quently dies for the want of living shoots to keep up its
vitality. Now this is a tendency that increases, and must
increase, until this plant becomes more of an annual than a
perennial, and indeed in some districts it is even at present
next to impossible to get acrop the second year. This,
however, may in a great measure be prevented by early
cutting of the grass when for hay, and here it is proper to
remark that there can be no greater injury done to a grass
crop, whether xatwral or artificial, than the letting it get
too ripe before cutting.

In all herbaceous vegetation, there is the tendency to die
wholly, or in part, on the production of seed. Thus annuals

16 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES,

die at once when they have attained the end of their growth,
namely, seed for the reproduction of their species ; and in
many of them their duration of life can be delayed for an
indefinite period by preventing this consummation: thus I
have made the annual Reseda odorata (mignonette), by
constantly pulling off its fowerbuds, grow for three years,
and assume the form of a woody plant, dying, however, on
the fourth year, on their being allowed to seed.

In October, 1849, I planted a patch of wheat in one of
my experimental plots of five yards square ; this I kept con-
stantly cut down during the summer of 1850, and it stood
the winter of 1850-51, and became a tolerable crop in the
summer of 1851, though much of it had died in the mean
time. Oats and barley treated the same quite died out.

Now, these experiments show, that not allowing seeding
in due season has a tendency to prolong the duration of life
of plants ; it is upon this principle in depasturing, that our
meadows maintain their position, as continuous patches of
herbage. Constant haymaking would inevitably promote
the dying out of good grasses, and this the more readily the
older the grass be before being cut, so that in all cases
it is the greatest possible mistake not to make hay early.
Otherwise what is gained in quantity is mostly prejudiced
in quality, and the after consequences are always unfavour-
able, circumstances arising not solely from the impoverish-
ing of the soil.

The Italian rye-grass will be found to throw out more
barren shoots in cultivation than the common form, and
this renders it a valuable variety: indeed, varieties—not
merely species—of all agricultural plants should be care-
fully attended to, as derivative specimens always alter their
properties in the course of years. By some it is thought
that new forms take the place of old ones in estimation,
merely from fashion and caprice, but I am inclined to think
that they are more generally resorted to from the necessity
of trying something else, because of the previous failure of
the old sorts, which is ever the case, even with careful

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES. 17

change of seed, in course of time. The Italian rye is com-
paratively new: and though it is perhaps not so great a
favourite as it was in some districts, yet it may be worth a
trial in most cases where the common rye-grass has been
kept up in the rotation for an ofttimes repeated series.

It was with these facts in view that I was induced to
experiment on a few grasses which I thought might be ser-
viceable for seed-crops, and in 1849 I tried patches of the
following : —

1. Anthoxanthum odoratum—Sweet vernal grass.

2. Alopecurus pratensis—Meadow foxtail.

8. Phlewm pratense—Timothy grass.

4. Dactylis glomerata—Cocksfoot grass ; and by the side
of these, by way of comparison—

5. Lolium perenne—Perennial rye-grass.

6. 55 var. Italiewn—lItalian rye-grass.

My plate are on a band of stiff marl, resting on the great
oolite freestone, and are never manured: the grasses are cut
down yearly, and thus the following observations upon them
made this summer may be of interest in this part of the
inquiry :—

This year, 1853, all of them were cut with the scythe in
July, at which time No.1 had seeded: at present it is
rapidly dying out as it has but few barren shoots.

Nos. 2, 8, and 4 stooled well, and increased in culms and
barren shoots from year to year: they increase in quantity,
and all of them have even sent up many culms for a second
crop, and all show a large quantity of aftermath.

Nos. 5 and 6 have nearly disappeared.

We see from these data that, in as far as yield and per-
manency are concerned, Nos, 2, 8, and 4 may be used
advantageously: No. 2 is considerably earlier than 3 and 4,
which in some cases may be much in its favour. From these
circumstances I am induced to think that these grasses
would be well worthy a trial on a greater scale than has
yet been accorded them in artificial pastures.

Diseases of Grasses —Under this head it seems desirable

18 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES.

to point out some of those affections of a fungoid form to
which grasses seem more particularly liable: those which
more commonly attack cereals have been explained before
the Society by Mr. Sydney in his usual felicitous manner,
under the names of Red Robin, Mildew, Smut, and Bunt,
with others of this class, all of which are more or less com-
mon to the grass tribe in general, though perhaps not to so
great an extent in the wild grasses as in the cereals.

The smut (Uredo segetwn) is constantly found attacking
the grass-flowers, but oftener, perhaps, on the flowers of
Arrhenatherum avenaceum than on any other species. I
have seen whole patches of this grass covered with the
black efflorescence of the fungus; here, however, as the
object is not grain, it produces but little mischief, though
the attacked grass is always stunted in its growth.

The greatest mischief done by fungi to grasses is that
occasioned by the agaric, or mushroom tribe; and more
especially by those which form the circles in meadows,
known as fairy rings. These often make a turf look very
dissightly ; and though it has been said that they manure
the grass, as evidenced from the circle of greener grass
where they have decayed, yet we must remember that this
ring of green is always surrounded by another of brown
withered herbage, consisting of nearly dead grasses; and,
indeed, it is in the decay of these that the phosphatic salts
which Professor Way has shown to exist so abundantly in
this tribe of fungi are supplied.

It may be here stated, that the fungus upon which the
Professor experimented, and upon which his paper was
founded, is the Agaricus prunulus, a plant which is abundant
in all poor upland pastures in Gloucestershire, and conse-
quently the fairy-rings which are formed by them are at all
seasons of the year a good criterion of the value of a field.
This fungus is remarkable for growing in the month of
May, on which account it can be distinguished from its
congeners, as other fairy-ring agarics do not appear until
the autumn, and then frequently in the same rings as those

enaceéum,

4 b. The spores of the fungus magnified 200 diameters,

Uredo segetum on Arrhenatherurn av

a. The smutted flowers,

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES. 19

of the A. prunulus. This plant is worthy of notice, as fur-
nishing a delicious article of food; I think far superior to
our mushroom: indeed, this is the French “ Mousseron,”
from which our name has been derived; and attached to
the Agaricus campestris, and according to Dr. Badham, it is
the favourite species all over the Continent; and to show
the esteem in which it is held in Italy, the learned Doctor
says thas little baskets of it are sent as presents to lawyers,
and fees to medical men, &c.*

The physiology of the growth of fungi in the grasses on
which they feed is a curious question, and one which it
would take too long to discuss here; suffice it to explain
that it is easily prevented, as whatever tends to improve the
pasture soon destroys the rings; thus on a field in front of
the Royal Agricultural College, where in about eight acres
were as many as seventy rings, was applied some years
since, a dressing of bones and guano, and the fungus crop
was for a time nearly destroyed.

Fairy-ring agarics are great pests in lawns, arising from
the grass being impoverished by constant cutting: these
and mosses are soon kept under by a fine-toothed rake, and
using guano highly diluted with sand or fine ashes, or
watering with guano water. This treatment will make the
grass coarser for a time; but in many cases it is a question
of treatment of this description, or the destruction of the
turf altogether.

It now remains to point out a disease to which all kinds
of grass seem liable, both the cereals and those of the mea-
dow, namely the Secale cornutum (ergot of rye); this, until
recently, was supposed to be a fungus, but closer examina-
tion has shown that the ergot is an altered condition of the
seed of the grass ; still ergot itself is liable to be attacked
by a fungus, which has been named Ergotetia.

Ergot has long been known as prevailing to a consider-
able extent in the rye of the Continent ; and it is principally
from this corn that the ergot of rye used in medicine has

* See Dr. Badham’s book on Esculent Funguses.
Cc

20 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES.

been obtained, and the terrific effects of its presence in rye-
bread have been pointed out by various medical authors.
Amongst other diseases incidental to its prolonged use, even
in small quantities, is that of Gangrene: its more immedi-
ate operation upon gravid animals appears to be the pro-
curing of abortion; and as one of the grasses in which it
occurs in great quantity is the Loliwm perenne (rye grass),
a prevailing grass in all good pastures, it often becomes a
matter of great importance to look well to a meadow in
autumn before turning in cows. Some years since, the late
Earl Ducie suffered considerably from the dropping of the
calves of some of his most valuable stock. At this time a
quantity of ergotized rye-grass was gathered in the field
where these accidents took place; and from the report given
me of the general state of the meadow, I have little doubt
but that this diseased grass was the cause of the accidents
which occurred.

The quantity of ergot in some low damp meadows is
quite astonishing ; however, it is lessened by good draining.
Uplands are much less affected: in the Cotteswold district
the bands of oolitic clays are often clearly made out by the
quantity of ergotized grass.

I have gathered ergot from almost every species of grass ;
but it occurs to a very inconsiderable extent in other grasses
of the pasture—the Poa fluitans, a water grass, and Bromus
asper, perhaps are next to the rye-grass; but these, from

their quality and position, can have no effect of a baneful
kind.

Cuarrzr II.

THE STRUCTURE AND ARRANGEMENT OF
BRITISH GRASSES.

In giving descriptions of grasses, it may be well to set out
with the acknowledgment that these plants form an exceed-
ingly natural group, which at once supposes that, although
they have such differences that species can be recognised
by careful analysis, they have yet such agreement in com-
mon that the most casual observation is usually sufficient to
determine one of the family to be a “ grass,’ or at least to
enable us to refer it to the Graminacee, as the natural
order of plants to which it belongs.

Here, then, we see that there must be a great similarity
of parts in species of grasses, and, as these parts are often
minute, it follows that in order to understand descriptions
so as to enable us to distinguish one species from another, |
or to analyse them, great care must first be taken to master
the minute distinctive characters which such parts may
present. This done, the student of grasses may soon know
them tolerably well, whereas, if neglected, he may attain to
the knowledge of xames, but it will only be in a traditionary
manner, and therefore with a constant liability to error,
according as his informer is well or ill acquainted with his
subject.

This Chapter is intended to illustrate the following sub-
jects :—

1st. An account of the structure of grasses; and

2nd. To offer a system of classification or arrangement
dependent thereupon.

1. Structure of Grasses—In grasses we meet with the
following parts, all of which, though tolerably constant in

c2

22 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES.

form in individuals of each species, yet in their variations
in species make up the sum of those distinctive characters
which enable the botanist to separate one species from
another. Such are—

The Root, or descending axis, consisting of root-fibres
and rhizome.

Culn, or ascending axis, consisting of stem, with its nodes
and joints.

Leaves, the appendages of the axis, consisting of sheath,
ligule, lamina.

Flowers, or reproductive organs, consisting of floral enve-
lopes, stamens, and pistils.

Seeds, or Fruit, consisting of grains of various forms and
sizes.

The roots of grasses usually consist of small fibres, which,
in starting from the seed, burst through the radicle, or seed-
root, like the inner valve of a telescope from the outer;
this, which is called by botanists Endorhizal, from two
Greek words signifying within a sheath, may be well ob-
served in the germination of such large grasses as are
presented in the cereals, as wheat, barley, &c. Roots are
sometimes hard and wiry, especially in such species as grow
in damp and boggy places; whilst in others they are exceed-
ingly flexile, the main roots often creeping great distances
in search of food, and then branching off into innumerable
fibrils, or rootlets, the ends of which, consisting of the
newest cells or growth, form the spongioles, or suckers, by
which nutriment is taken from the soil into the plant sys-
tem. Itis hence necessary, in the cultivation of grasses,
that the soil for the reception of the seed should be of good
tilth, and especially that its mechanical consistency should
be such as that it will not greatly expand in moisture, and
so push the plants out of place—or crack in drought, in
which case the rootlets, or active parts in life and increase,
are broken away just at the period when they are most
required. Roots are without buds, from which it will be
seen that all the parts of a grass which grow beneath the

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES. 23

surface are not always true roots, such, for instance, as the
runners in the common couch (Triticwm repens). These
receive the name of Rhizome, or underground stems, and
it is by means of these that the couch tribe of grasses so
quickly spread from a common and small centre into large
patches ; as, though they creep for a considerable distance,
yet their points ultimately rise to the surface and then
expand new leaves, and, in fact, form distinct and perfect
individuals, which, if separated from the parent, all the
more rapidly give rise to independent colonies, and indeed
these scions do as their parent did before them.

Several species of grasses have this tendency, and conse-
quently when it occurs it forms a good distinctive character.
Hence though the Triticum repens has a rhizome, the 7.
caninum is only furnished with'a fibrous root; some of the
Poas, as Poa pratensis and P. compressa, have rhizomes,
whilst Poa annua and P. trivialis are without any tendency
to a creeping habit of growth.

Agriculturally it is necessary to distinguish the different
forms of couch, as the species of one district may be absent
from another; and as even the rhizome will vary in being
large or small, so will its eradication much depend upon its
difference in form and habit. However, we shall hereafter
see that several species of grass become useful from this
very structure in keeping together banks of sea-coast, canals
and the like; and it is a matter worthy of serious consider-
ation and careful experiment whether they could not be
made available in consolidating the slopes of railway cut-
tings, which give so much trouble and cause such constant
yearly outlay on some lines.

Culm—Stem.—The stems of grasses are usually hollow
(fistular), to which, however, the Molinia cerulea (purple
molinia) of wet places offers an exception in its solid stem.
It is rounded, except in Poa compressa (fat-stemmed mea-
dow-grass), in which the trivial name has been given from
the oval form on a transverse section, as though it had been
subject to compression.

24 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES.

The stem is separated into long or short lengths, called
joints, by the intervention of nodes (knots), which are solid
and tend much to strengthen the structure of the plant, to
which end they will be found to be closer at the base, where
the strain would be greatest on account of these light plants
swaying forwards and backwards in the wind, and more
remote upwards in the culm, from which are suspended the
newer and more active leaves.

Stems may vary in being quite smooth, ribbed, armed with
bairs—which may be long or short—bristly or downy, in
proportion as this kind of armature may be coarse or harsh,
or fine and soft.

The nodes again may be of a different colour from the
culm, or, like it, may be smooth or armed in a similar man-
ner.

The leaves consist of the following parts :—

The sheath, = petiole, or leaf-stalk of other plants.

The ligule, or tongue.

The lamina, = blade, or flat part of the leaf.

The sheath is the footstalk of the leaf. This takes its rise
from the nodes, one from each, arranged on alternate sides
of the culm. The whole length of the sheath, which is
variable, is folded around the culm, from which it can be
loosened by unwinding without fracture, a circumstance
which serves to distinguish the grasses from the sedges
(Carex), as the sheath of the latter is a continuous tube, in
which the solid and often triangular culm is inserted, not
folded. This is a distinctive character of great importance
to observe, inasmuch as grasses and sedges are outwardly
much alike—indeed some species of the latter are called
Carnation Grass—but greatly different in quality; grasses
being for the most part highly nutritious plants, whilst
sedges are not only usually innutritious, but, from the
harshness of their herbage, are often a source of injury and
annoyance to the creatures that from starvation are some-
times doomed to eat of them.

The blade—lamina—is the expanded part of the leaf. It

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES. 25

is sometimes large and drooping, as in the larger or flag-
like grasses, but occasionally it is very minute, especially
when compared with the sheath, as in the Avena pubescens
(soft oat-grass). In some species the blade is long and the
sheath short. The blade is traversed by longitudinal paral-
lel lines, which are called the leaf-veins or nervures : these
may be broad, narrow, rigid, soft, armed with rough hairs,
and so on, all of which are not only points of distinction in
species, but aid in making up the sum of those differences
which will ever be found in good and bad pasture grasses :
as, for instance, grasses in which the herbage is covered
with long downy hairs are mostly poor and innutritious in
quality; on the other hand those of a harsh and rigid
structure, with serrated leaves, whose edges act as a saw
and whose flat blades perform the office of a file, even if
nutritious, would nevertheless be refused by cattle on ac-
count of their mechanical inconvenience.

The ligule—At the point where the sheath ends and
the blade begins occurs a thin and usually white semi-
transparent membrane, termed the ligule, or tongue.
This, as it varies so much in size and form, will be fre-
quently referred to in diagnosis by some such terms as the
following :—

Short, in Poa pratensis, smooth-stalked meadow-grass.

Pointed, in Poa trivialis, rough-stalked ditto.

Notched, in Bromus mollis, soft brome or lop grass.

In pairs, in Ammophila arundinacea, common sea-reed.

Its value as a distinctive character may be drawn from
an examination of Poa pratensis and P. trivialis, as it assists
at a glance to distinguish two grasses, much alike in appear-
ance, though very distinct in habit and general properties.

The use which this part of the leaf subserves would ap-
pear to be that of more securely fastening the upper part
of the sheath to the culm, as without it the wind would tear
the leaves downwards, in which case their functions would
become much disturbed, and they would soon wither and
die. The flower in grasses consists of the elements of an

26 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES.

entire plant, each bunch or locusta of flowers being but a
grass in minature, consisting of a central axis or stem with
its alternately arranged leaves, the stamens, pistils, and
seeds in the axils of which are but buds; this fact may at
once be seen in viviparous specimens, such as are often
found in the Lolium perenne (perennial rye-grass) and
Cynosurus cristatus (crested dog’s-tail), in which, instead
of flowers, we have complete buds, which we have indeed
detached and grown as distinct plants of their respective
species.

Now, in these examples the case is very different from
that of germination in the ear which takes place in laid and
damp wheat, as in the latter the seeds have been perfected,
and germination takes place from heat and moisture in the
usual manner; but in viviparous growth the envelopes and
their organs, instead of growing seeds on the principle of
arrested development, go on growing into branches, and no
seed is consequently perfected.

Flowers consist of the following parts :—

Glume —outer chaff-scales
Glumel =inner chaff-scales

clit } Fertilizing organs.

; Floral envelopes.

Seeds = grain = reproductive organs.

Floral envelopes, upon the theory just enunciated, consist
of metamorphosed leaves; they are arranged in pairs, and
each scale starts from an opposite side of the central axis,
but not from the same point. The outer pair subserves the
same use as the calyx in other plants, and receives the name
of calyx-glume; the inner pair, or pairs—for sometimes
several occur in a single glume—is termed glwmel, and the
pieces of which either are formed obtain the name of valves,
the lower one being the outer and the upper one the inner
of each respectively.

The glumes differ in shape, and in the presence or absence
of longitudinal lines or rids; it may be large enough to
include or conceal the glumel, or it may be considerably

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES. 27

smaller than the latter. Again, the outer and inner valve
may vary in size and shape, and, indeed, present many
differences which will be explained in simple language in
the descriptions of species.

The glumel,—corolla, is subject to like differences in
form and proportions, facts which can only be well explained
with a specimen in one’s hand; and it should not be
forgotten that in grasses we have to deal with plants which,
though simple in their structure, present such minute
differences that the eye must become by use accustomed to
examine and trace them, and as so many characters are
necessarily derived from such important organs as the
flowers, which are often small, even a pocket lens will
frequently be required to assist the ordinary vision.*

The glumel is often found to be armed by a projecting
spine or beard; this is of greater or less length, and is
termed the awn,} and may be well observed in bearded
wheat and in both wild and cultivated barleys. This organ,
when long and stiff, and armed as it is sometimes with
projecting spicule, renders grasses where they occur
exceedingly objectionable, especially for hay, though the
grass may be good if kept from flowering by constant
depasturing ; such are the species of Hordewm (wild barley).

The fertilizing organs consist of the stamens; which
possess the following parts :—

a. The filament, or thread which supports
6. The anther, or case in which is secreted
e. The pollen, or fecundating dust.

The filament, by reason of its length, may cause the
anther to be exserted or standing out from the flower, or
from its shortness to be inserted or included in its valves,
the anther may be varied in its colour as follows :—{

* For this purpose a lens of ordinary power will suffice, such as may
be purchased at the optician’s for about 9d.

+ The awn, when present, may represent the blade of a leaf, whilst the
glume and glumel are the representatives of the sheath.

{ The colour differs much in the same species, some being more liable
to variation than others.

28 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES.

Colourless, Poa annua, annual meadow-grass.

Flesh colour, Phlewm pratense, Timothy grass.

Rose in Alopecurus pratensis, meadow foxtail.
Purple in Aira cespitosa, hassock grass.

Yellow, Bromus mollis, soft brome, and most grasses.
Orange, Bromus erectus, upright brome.

The pollen is usually of a light straw colour, but as it
cannot be well examined without a tolerably good micro-
scope, and even then would offer but doubtful specific
characters, it need not be further mentioned here. In our
British species of grasses we find three stamens, with but
very few exceptions, to each floret, and hence grasses belong
to the Linnean class Triandria.

The Pistil consists of a style, which is in one or as it
were split into two parts, each surmounted by a stigma
either pointed or feathery; they are mostly very pale in
colour, but occasionally highly tinted. As our British
grasses, with but one exception in Mardus stricta, heath
grass, possess two stigmata, so they belong to the Linnean
order Digynia.

Seeds are sometimes loose in the chaff-scales, as in the
wheat; in others the glumel is adherent, as in barley ;—a
circumstance which may explain how readily wheat grain is
shed when “dead ripe,” as the attachment of the seeds to
the chaff-scales is much less firm than that of the flower to
the flower-stalk: these facts fully justify the process of
reaping, as involving more care, for the former, and of the
rougher method of mowing for the latter ; this, however, is
now calculated as a matter of expense, and not one of mere
waste.

For the sake of perspicuity the following resumé of parts
is added, which should be studied with a grass in flower :—

Root...... ee ... The true root fibres.
Rhizome. . Creeping underground stem.
Culm ....The whole aboveground stem.
rf oint ....A single length from node to node.
Node ....The hard knot between the joints.

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES. 29

Ligule ... The tongue of the leaf.

Blade ....The lamina, or free part of leaf.
Floral { Glumes ..The outer chaff-scales, in pairs.
Envelopes ( Glumels. . The inner chaff-scales, ditto.

Sheath ...The folding portion of a leaf.

‘ Filament . The thread supporting the anther.
Fertiliz. ; Stamen ... | Ane ...The pouch containing the pollen.
i Pollen . ..The fertilizing dust.

Pistil ..... { Style ....The support of the stigma.
Stigma. ..The receptacle for the pollen.

Seeds ....The reproductive organ.
A barren shoot....A flowerless branch.

Inflorescence—Thus far we have described the separate
parts of the structure of grasses; we have now to point out
the terms used to designate these in aggregation, which will
be briefly considered under the following heads :—

a. Herbage, that is the leaf portion, principally con-
cerned in pasture.

6. Culms, or parts which grow upright, and make up so
much of the bulk and weight of hay.

c. Heads of flowers, the various forms which they
assume.

a. The quality of grasses depends so much upon the
quantity and physicai character of the herbage, that for
agricultural purposes these should always be noted with
great care ; hence, if for hay, both bulk and quality is much
influenced by luxuriant leafage, a character in which grasses
will be found to differ in a remarkable degree; if however
this be rough and unpalatable, that is, the “sour grass” of
the farmer, no matter how great its quantity, such should
be discouraged. Again, if for depasturing, it will be neces-
sary to note such facts as longevity, and how the species
succeeds in sending up herbage under continual mutilation
by feeding off.

Most grass meadows are sometimes mown for hay and
then depastured in the shape of aftermath, whilst in some
years no hay crop is taken, so that it is necessary to en-
courage the growth of all such species as will be found

30 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES.

adapted to our soil, and will there yield us the best return
in both hay and herbage. Connected with this part of the
subject we must not omit duration; as for permanent
pasture perennial grasses are absolutely necessary, annual
species having nothing to recommend them.

b. The Culms of grasses, whether hard and wiry, or soft
and pliable, bitter or saccharine, scanty or abundant, should
also receive attention, as hay, both in quality and bulk, will
much depend upon these circumstances.

c. Heads of flowers.—These are aggregated from single
locuste, spikelets, or smaller bunches or bundles of flowers
which may vary in the following manner :—

a. A single glumel to each pair of glume-valves.
b. Two glumels and sets of flowers to a pair of glumes.
ce. Three or more glumels to each pair of glume-valves.

Each flower, or Jocusta of flowers, as 5 and ¢ would be
termed, may be attached to the stem in various ways:

a. On short upright footstalks (pedicels), in which the
flowers unite into a compact head, called a spike —example,
Foxtail grasses.

b. On longer upright footstalks (pedicels) forming an
upright panicle, as in Bromus mollis, soft brome.

ce. On long and flexile footstalks (pedicels) a drooping
panicle, as Bromus asper, rough-stalked brome.

2. Classification—In a large group of plants, like the
grasses, their study necessitates their arrangement into
smaller groups or bundles in order to facilitate their analy-
sis, to which end various characters, more or less minute,
have been dwelt upon by different authors. We here
choose the method of arrangement that appears to us as the
most simple, making use of the foregoing descriptions and
terminology as our guide.

A.—Stamens, 2. Sryzs, 2.
1, Anthoxanthum—panicle spicate.
2. Hierochloe—panicle lax.

B.—Stamens, 3. STyLe, 1.
3. Nardus—spike unilateral.

TAN

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES. 31

C.—Stamens, 3, STYLzs, 2.

* Spikelets single flowered.
+ Flowers spiked.

. Leersia—glumes absent.

. Alopecurus—spicate, glumes connected at the base, spike compact.

. Phleum—spicate, glumes distinct, spike compact.

. Ammophila—spicate, glumes pointed, with a tuft of hairs at the

base, spike compact.

. Lagurus—spicate, glumes with long bristly points, spike short and

compact.

. Phalaris—spicate, glumes broad, glistening seeds, smooth, spike less

compact,

10.—G@astridiwm—spicate, glumes swelling at the base, spike less com-

pact.

11.—Polypogon—spicate, outer glume awned, spike less compact.

12.
13,

14.
16.

16.

17.
18,

19.

+t Flowers paniculate, more or less lax.
Milium—panicle spreading, glumes herbaceous.
Stipa—panicle erect, glumes coming out to a fine point, inner glumel
with an awn ten times the length of the flower.
Calamagrostis—panicle loose, glumes surrounded by silky hairs.
Agrostis—panicle loose, glumes lancet-shaped, nearly equal.

ttt Flowers spicate, arranged on two sides.
Rottbolia—spikelets alternate, glumes equal.

tttt Spikelets arranged unilaterally.
Spartina—spikelets unilateral, glumes unequal.
Cynodon—spikelets in alternate pairs on one side, glumes very un-
equal.
Digitaria—spikes branched, spikelets alternate on one side, glumes
very unequal.
Spikelets with one or two perfect florets, sometimes with one or addi-
tional florets, which are imperfect.

+t Fertile flowers, one ; imperfect flowers, one or two.

. Setaria—panicle spicate, flowers surrounded by bristles.

. Panicum—panicle spicate, spike-branched glumels, with short hairs.
. Molinia—panicle contracted but not spicate, glumes acute,

. Melica—panicle lax, glumes rounded.

. Catabrosa—panicle spreading, glumes obtuse

. Aira—panicle spreading, glumes unequal in size.

. Triodia—panicle of few locustw, which are large and tumid.

. Holeus—panicle lax, florets soft, with downy hairs.

32

28.

29.
30.

31,
32.
33.
34,
35.

36.

37.

38.
39.

40.
41,

42,

43,

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES.

Arrhenatherum—panicle lax, glumes and glumels with bifid or
notched points.

Sesleria—panicle spicate, glumes with trifid, glumels with bifid points.

Cynosurus—panicle spicate, flowers hidden in a comb-like shield, 2-
voluere of botanists.

*#* Spikelets (ocusta), with three or more perfect flowers.

+ Spikelets forming bilateral spikes.

Elymus—spikelets (J.) in twos or threes, both valves of the glumes
on one side of the spikelet.

Hordeum—spikelets (7.) in threes, of which only the central one is
perfect.

Triticum—spikelets (7.) alternate on the central axis (rachis), glumes
transverse to it.

Brachipodium-— spikelets (1.) alternate on the central axis (rachis),
glumes transverse to it.

Lolium—spikelets (J.) alternate, not transverse, each with a single
glume,

Glyceria—panicle slightly branched, outer glumel with 5-7 strong
ribs.

tt Flowers paniculate, panicle more or less Jaz.

Poa—panicle lax, glumes unequal valves, the inner glumel notched
at the extremity.

Briza—panicle lax, glumes equal, tumid.

Dactylis—panicle somewhat compact, glumes pointed, glumels awn-
less.

Festuca—panicle lax, glumes finely pointed, glumel with a short awn.

Bromus—panicle lax, glumes more or less rounded, outer glumel with
a long awn, inner one edged with fine hairs.

Avena—panicle more or less lax, glumes thin, transparent membrane,
glumels adherent to the seed.

Phragmites—panicle more or less compact, glumes and glumels finely
pointed, the latter very unequal.

Now, in the foregoing Table, we have arranged 43 genera,
which will be found to include about 125 species. Of these
however only about 20 genera, containing not more than 40
species, will be found to possess any particular interest in
an agricultural point of view ; only these therefore will be
fully described in the next Chapter, and their properties
and capabilities pointed out, whilst sufficient reference will
be made to the remaining species to enable the student to
refer them to their proper places.

Cuaprer III.

THE AGRICULTURAL ECONOMY OF BRITISH
GRASSES.

Tux following description of meadow grasses is meant to
apply for the most part to such species as are of importance
to the farmer, from making up a part of the ordinary pas-
ture in different soils and situations; at the same time
remarks will not be wanting on those species which either
from their bad qualities as pasture grasses may be consi-
dered as pastoral weeds, or from occurring to a considerable
extent under tillage may be denominated agrarian weeds.

As regards the relative value of the pasture grasses, there
must always be some difference of opinion, arising from
difference of soil, climate, and other external causes, which
certainly exercise great influence, and cause a wide diversity
of result. We can therefore only say, on behalf of our own
observations, that they are the result of many years’ study
of this useful tribe of plants, which we have pursued not
only as a botanist, but as thoroughly alive to their agricul-
tural bearing and importance. Not only have we carried
on this study in the field, but have also kept most of the
species in cultivation for many years, and made them the
subjects of practical experiments in reference to their
growth, yield, and some of the chemical details connected
with them.

It should be remarked that this Book has not been bur-
dened with descriptions of all the grasses, as many of them,
though curious in a botanical point of view, are yet without
agricultural interest, and their consideration would have too
greatly increased the length.

34 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES.

Rererences.—A refers to an annual grass, or such as dies when it has
produced its first crop of flowers.
B, biennial, such as flower two years, and then die.
P, perennial, such as flower for several years.

A.—Stamens, 2. Sryzus, 2.
ANTHOXANTHUM — panicle spicate, glumes unequal,
glumel double, outer one with short awns.—P.

A. odoratwn—sweet vernal grass—is the only agricultural
species in this division; it is a very early grass, being one
of the first to flower, and is well known for its peculiar
fragrant odour, which is more apparent in the dried than in
the green specimens: it is the presence of this grass which
imparts most of the grateful smell and flavour to meadow-hay,
and which in all probability renders it not only more palat-
able but also more nutritious than “seeds”’ or artificial hay.

Its bulk is small, so that it adds but little weight to the
rick, and its short leaves are incapable of affording much
aftermath ; still its fragrance entitles it to a place in all
mixtures of grasses in laying down permanent pasture.

B.—Sramens, 3. Srrzz, 1.

Narpus—glume absent, glwmel of two valves, spike
unilateral.—P.

N. stricta—heath grass—occurs on damp heaths or marshy
places, and is readily distinguished by its slender unilateral
spike with flowers all pointing one way. Of no agricultural
value, except as indicating the nature of its soil.

C.—Stamens, 3. Sryuzs, 2.
t+ Flowers spiked.
ALOPEcURUS—glumes nearly equal, united at the base;
glumel of asingle valve, awned from below; spike
compact.

1. A. pratensis—meadow foxtail—spike cylindrical, blunt
at the apex, about 2 inches in length.—P.

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES. 35

2. A. agrestis—taper foxtail—spike cylindrical, pointed
at the apex, from 2 to 8 inches long —A.

8. A. geniculatus—floating foxtail—spike cylindrical, blunt
at the apex, about half the size of A. pratensis.—P.

The Alopecurus pratensis is a common native grass, espe-
cally in moist meadows and in deep rich pastures, for which
situations it is admirably adapted, as it yields a large pro-
portion of hay and a quick growth of aftermath; it should
always form part of the grass for irrigated meadows, as it is
very early and bears cropping well, sending up culms and a
plentiful supply of herbage for the second or hay crop, after
the first depasturing by sheep.

As a grass for self-cultivation, it may be stated that it
grows fast even on a medium soil and in exposed situations,
and its upright habit would point it out as no bad species
to mix with rye-grass in “seeds,” whilst in laying down
land for permanent pasture it should always take a place
with other grasses.

The Alopecurus agrestis is sometimes called the black-
bent, at others hunger-weed, terms expressive of the low
estimation in which it is held, and the poor agrarian land
in which it delights to grow. Sinclair says, “the appearance
of the black-bent among wheat is a certain sign that the
crop will be worthless.” It is seldom found in the open
meadow, but is mostly an accompaniment of strong heavy
land which has been badly tilled and is much out of con-
dition ; its presence therefore denotes a want of drainage
and liberal manuring, which treatment, as we have frequently
witnessed, will eradicate it even in a single season.

A. geniculatus is here noted as a denizen of wet places,
where, if cattle can get at it, they invariably keep it well
cropped down. In some situations it appears in a stunted
condition, apparently on dry soil, but this is only after
drought, as, if it be not surrounded by water for a great
part of the year, it soon dies out; under such circumstances,
therefore, it is an indicator of some value.

D

36 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES.

Purrum—spike compact, glumes distinct, glumel of two
equal awnless valves.

P. pratense—timothy or catstail grass—glumes equal,
much truncated, with long produced points, each valve cili-
ated with a row of stiff hairs on the back.—P.

This grass, under the name of catstail, is a common native,
found everywhere in tolerably good pastures. It has been
introduced among most others of our British pasture
grasses to the American continent, where it appears to have
attracted the attention of one Mr. Timothy Hanson, who
probably first brought it out as a self-grass, in which culti-
vated form it has become associated with his Christian name ;
and hence the idea that some entertain that we got the
species from America is erroneous, as it is not indigenous
to that country, though it is quite true that we import from
the States and Canada most of our seed under its name of
timothy-grass.

As a meadow-grass, it is to be recommended for the mass
of its nutritive culms, which are anything but coarse with
us, and especially in our hay season, as it is a late species ;
it however yields comparatively little aftermath.

As a self-grass, its cultivation has never been carried out
to any extent in Britain. In the United States, however,
and Canada, hundreds of acres may be seen occupied with
the cultivated form—timothy-grass; and on the alluvial
flats of the Ohio, and the broad alluvial lands left by the
contraction of the American lakes, this grass yields enorm-
ous crops, with spikes of flowers sometimes as much as six
inches in length.

It is a grass easy of cultivation, and particularly well
adapted for growth on river flats or estuarine warp-land, on
which it will yield much larger crops than any other grass,
and, though somewhat harsh and coarse in such places, will
yet be found to contain highly nutritive qualities, and is
peculiarly adapted for admixture in chaff.

There are several other species, but they have no parti-
cular agricultural value.

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES. 37

AMMOPHILA—spike compact, glumes of nearly equal
pointed valves, with a tuft of hairs at the base, in-
cluding the glumel.—P.

A. arundinacea—sea-reed, mat-grass—remarkable for its
creeping rhizome, which we have obtained of as much as 30
feet in length. It is a common denizen of the sea-side, and,
from its peculiar growth, it operates very beneficially in
keeping together the sands of the coast, on which account
it is carefully looked after and preserved by Act of Parlia-
ment. It may be worth a trial in some of the deep railway
cuttings, especially where these occur in sandy clay, which
renders them peculiarly liable to give way either from the
rain of the wet season or the cracking which succeeds from
the drought of summer. It is readily cultivated by joints
or cuttings of the rhizome.

Tt is of no agricultural value, as its coarse, rigid, sapless
herbage is untouched by cattle.

PuaLaRis—glumes of erect equal keeled valves, includ-
ing the glumel, which adheres to and becomes part
of the seed.

P. canariensis—canary-grass—flowers in an oval spike—
an annual grass, occurring in waste places and about the
homestead, and probably introduced from its use as a food
for canaries and other small birds, on which account it is
cultivated in the neighbourhood of London and some of our
larger towns for its seed. Itg cultivation is exceedingly
easy, a light soil with a fine “tilth” being almost the only
condition required. We have seen good crops on both
elevated and low lands, as it is a grass which endures great
variations of climate.

P. arundinacea—reed canary-grass—flowers more or less
densely paniculate. A perennial species, usually growing
in water, in which it extends rapidly by its thick rhizome.
Tts occurrence in hedge-rows and meadows is a sign of great”
damp, which would be improved by drainage, when the
species soon dies out. It is of no agricultural use; its

D2

38 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES.

rhizome, however, occasionally renders it of value in keeping
up river-banks; but it is oftener injurious, as spreading
into watercourses, and thus vitiating a system of drainage
by arresting the equable flow in the main or trunk chan-
nels.

tt Flowers paniculate, more or less lax.

Agrostis—glumes of two unequal valves longer than
the glwmel, the inner valve of which is sometimes
absent, the outer either awned or awnless.

Agricultural forms.—Fine bent :—

1. A. vulgarvis—head of flowers spreading, exceedingly
light and elegant; stolons more or less creeping, whole plant
smooth, Hab., upland meadows and pastures.—P.

2. A. vulgaris var. alba—imarsh-bent—head of flowers
larger and more compact; culms rooting at the lower nodes,
and sending out stolons ; whole plant more or less rough,
and stouter than the preceding. Hab., ditches and wet
places.—P.

3. A. vulgaris, var. stolonifera —agrarian bent—head of
flowers much congested; stolons above, rhizomes creeping
below, the ground. Hab., stony places; mostly an accom-
paniment of agrarian conditions,—P.

These three forms are proved to belong to the same
species, as from cultivation we have obtained the following
results :—

A plot of A. vulgaris, sown in 1855, presents the usual
delicate form of this grass, with a tolerable admixture of
both stolonifera and alba.

A plot of A. stolonifera. The general plant is A. vulgaris,
having a few stolonifera intermixed, which latter present
more of the true alba form than the congested flowers and
stolon growth of its proper type. These experiments,
though they tend to confirm their specific identity, by no
means confound the different agricultural value of the three
forms; and indeed, agriculturally, varieties themselves are
of equal value with true species.

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES. 39

These varieties mark different agricultural conditions ;
and though neither of them are of great use as pasture-
grasses under ordinary circumstances, yet the peculiar
method of growth of the A. stolonifera, united with the fact
of the great increase both in quantity and quality of its
herbage under irrigation, point it out as a grass well adapted
to form part of the produce of an irrigated meadow. As
an agrarian, however, it is usually known by the name of
squitch ; and its small wiry rhizome renders it exceedingly
difficult to eradicate, especially from brashy land, which is
its favourite habitat, and in which it spreads so fast, that a
summer fallow becomes so literally choked up with it as
almost to exclude every other form of weed, if we except
Triticum repens—common couch—which is its usual con-

gener.
*% Spikelets with mostly two perfect florets.

Moxin1a—panicile contracted, not spicate ; glumes acute.
M. cerulea—purple melic-grass. A species remarkable
for its solid stem and few nodes ; it has long wiry roots, by
which it mats together the humus soils of peats and moors;
it is of no value in pasture, but is always an index of want
of draining and general amelioration, under which it imme-
diately disappears.—P.

CataBrosa—panicle spreading; glume of two obtuse
valves, including the two or three florets; glwmel
truncated, awnless.

CO. aquatica—water-whorl-grass. It is a perennial water-
grass, and its only British species will be found in ditches,
water-courses, and ponds, where it frequently grows very
luxuriantly, and is remarkable for a peculiarly sweet licorice
flavour, on which account cattle crop it down very closely
whenever they can reach it; it is, however, so purely aqua-
tic—refusing to grow away from water—that nothing can
be done in its cultivation. A dwarf variety will frequently
be found on mud-banks ; but here it is an evidence of their
wetness.—P.

40 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES.

Arra—glume of two unequal valves, including two
perfect florets, which are usually awned from near
their base.

A. cespitosa—turfy hair-grass—hassock or tussac grass.
Of this genus there are several species, but only this one
will need description here: it is distinguished by its tall
stem, panicle spreading ; flowers numerous on slender pedi-
cels, haying their outer glumel awned; leaves long and
pointed, with serrated margins and roughened ribs, which
makes this grass very rigid and objectionable to cattle, on
which account, and from its possessing but little nutritive
matter, they commonly object to eat it unless when quite
young. It is found constant to two positions—moist damp
woods, under the trees, where it forms an excellent covert
for game. Its more objectionable habitat is in undrained
meadows, or where there is a chance of water stagnating;
and hence it is interesting as marking want of drainage, the
stoppage of a drain, of a grip not well opened, or a want of
free exit for the water in any part of a water-meadow. If
any of these conditions continue for a length of time—
sometimes incredibly short—this grass soon assumes its
large cushion-like growth, from which it has attained the
country names of hassock or tussac grass, bullpates, &c. It
establishes itself in separate masses, like the larger jungle
grasses of the tropics, which soon overpower all other
species. Where present a meadow can never be perfect;
if in irrigation, the wet “swag”’ must be relieved by an
additional grip or channel into the exit-drain. In the mea-
dows, with proper draining, its disappearance is equally
rapid with its former growth.

Hoxrcus—panicle lax, florets soft with downy hairs;
glwnes of two nearly equal two-flowered valves ;
upper floret awned, lower one awnless.

HZ. lanatus—meadow soft grass; awn short and eurved
backwards, so that it is seldom exserted beyond the glumes;
its upper end only is rough ; plant not creeping. —P.

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES. 41

H. mollis — creeping soft grass; awn nearly straight,
always exserted, rough along its whole length; plant creep-
ing on the surface of the ground.—P.

The first of these is usually found growing in damp mea-
dows near rivers, being a general grass under flooding, but
not so under proper systematic irrigation. It is quite use-
less, possessing neither flavour nor nutritive qualities, and
much deteriorates meadows in which it abounds, The best
method for its eradication will be found in the adoption of
such farming as will suit better species; the law of exter-
mination of the weaker by the stronger being nowhere so
apparent as in the grass meadow; for if the circumstances
prevail which suit those of a good kind, any bad ones either
die out or linger on in a wretched and abject state; but a
return to poverty, or a starved condition of the soil, soon
causes the bad ones to obtain the ascendancy, and drive out
those of a better quality.

The H. mollis is almost confined to sandy soils, such land
as is formed from the disintegration of the conglomerates
of the old red, and the more arid tracks on the new red
sandstones, and the grits accompanying coal-meagures are
peculiarly liable to it. It spreads in most dissightly tufts
in the meadows on such soils, and, from being of no value
itself, it is a great pest in the meadows. It is best kept
under by well harrowing it from the rest, and following this
process with marling and manuring, which may be done
with any substance tending to fertility, as it is a grass un-
known in rich pastures. Johnston, in his Natural History
of the Eastern Borders, remarks that, “ when a field of light
shallow soil, after being cultivated for a few seasons, is again
laid down for grass, an abundant and unlooked-for crop of
this grass will often appear. Itis one of those cases in
which we are left to wonder how the seed came there.”—
(p. 212) But we need not wonder how this or its congener
spreads and gets into cultivation, seeing that each in its
own locality is ever found about the homestead, and one
plant seeding is enough to stock a wide space of ground.

42 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES.

The sweepings of waste places, when they are thus cased
for, find their way to the muck-heap; and from this, agra-
rian grasses and other weeds are continually being very
industriously and equally spread over the land.

ABRHENATHERUM—panicle lax, glumes of two valves,
and two florets, the lowest of which has a long
twisted awn, the upper one a short bristle on the
outer glumel, lower floret with stamens only, upper
one perfect, z.c. with stamens and pistils.

A. avenaceum— oat-like grass—a tall species, growing
much after the manner of the oat, to which its trivial name
of oat-like has reference; both its culms and aftermath are
usually produced in abundance ; but it possesses an exceed-
ingly bitter taste ; and though Sinclair says “it is eaten by
all sorts of cattle,’ yet we have uniformly noticed that
cows and sheep refuse it unless starved to it by want of
something better. “It contains too large a proportion of
bitter extractive and saline matter to warrant its cultivation
without a considerable admixture of different grasses; and
the same objection extends to its cultivation in permanent
pasture,” according to the author just quoted; but as he
finds it “ always present in the composition of the best
natural meadows,” so he concludes that it should have a
place in the list of species for the laying down of permanent
pastures. However, from a long observation of this grass,
both in separate plots and in the meadow, we are inclined
to think that it would be better to discourage its growth;
it may indeed be seen in the good meadow, but it is best
grown in the worst parts thereof; and, from the peculiarity
of its constitution, it is capable of adapting itself to a wide
range of circumstances, and hence the universality of its
occurrence. We have two distinct forms, and under con-
stant conditions, permanent varieties, namely, the typical
A. avenaceum in deep and moist soils, and the curious
variety bwlboswm in sandy lands. The former of these has
a swelling at its lower node; but as in its locality there is

THE NATURAL WISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES. 43

always sufficient and regularly supplied sustenance and
moisture, there is no need for the nodular growth assumed
by the var bulboswn when growing in sands, and provided
as a storehouse of food for its living on in those periods of
drought with which arid sands are mostly affected at some
season or other.

These bulbs, which are the ordinary nodes of the grass
much enlarged, look like a string of onions on a small scale,
which has given rise to its popular name of onion couch ;
and upon the sand-beds upon which rest a great part of the
towns of Gloucester and Cheltenham, and on the broken-
down sandstone of the new red about Worcester, or the
silicious drifts and soils of other districts, it sometimes
forms a most troublesome weed, as each node is capable of
growing a distinct plant, and so succulent are these that
heat and dryness have even less chance of killing it than
the common couch; the only way to get rid of it is to hand-
pick it after repeated ploughing and harrowing.

It may be supposed that the var. bulboswm would be a
useful grass on sands; but as its propensity is to increase
by roots, and it sends up no second growth of culm, as does
the A. avenacewm, its yield of herbage is not half that of
the true species; its bulbous growth, however, is large and
rapid, and its knotted onion-like traces are much in the
way of any crop with which it may be intermixed.

The very bitter taste of the nodular masses would almost
point it out as of medicinal use, but we have never heard of
its so employment.

Cynosurus—paniele spicate, flowers hidden in a comb-
like shield, (involucre of botanists)—glwmes, equal
awned, inner valve of glwmel with or without an awn.

Cynoswrus eristatus—head of flowers forming a narrow
spike, florets with a short awn.—P.

Cynoswrus echinatus—head of flowers broadly ovate, florets
with a rather long awn.—A.

The comb-like shield by which the locuste of flowers are

44, THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES.

separated from each other in this genus is sufficient to dis-
tinguish it from all others.

Of our two British species only the first needs attention
here, which we shall accord it, not so much because of the
character of “a valuable grass” which Hooker gives it,
perhaps following Sinclair, but in order to give our own
independent observations upon a grass which is so abund-
ant, and which, as we think, has been overmuch cultivated.

Probably much of the error which we conceive attaches
to this species has arisen from the company in which it is
usually found in its favourite upland localities, and hence
such grasses as Festuca ovina, sheep’s fescue, F. duriuscula,
hard fescue, Lolium perenne, perennial rye-grass, and Poa
pratensis common meadow-grass, which in such places yield
an unusually sweet herbage, have been robbed of much of
that character which has been erroneously attributed to
Cynosurus.

Sinclair says, “In some parts of Woburn Park this grass
constitutes the principal part of the herbage on which the
deer and Southdown sheep chiefly browse, while another
part of the park, which consists chiefly of the Agrostis vul-
garis fascicularis, Agrostis vulgaris tennifolia, Festuca ovina,
Festuca duriuscula, &c., is seldom touched by them; but
the Welsh breed of sheep almost constantly browse on
these, and almost entirely neglect the Cynosurus cristatus,
Lolium perenne, and Poa trivialis.”

Now, in opposition to this, we beg to offer our observa-
tions, of some eight years, upon this grass, as it ocrurs in
the park of Earl Bathurst, at Cirencester.

This park, which is very extensive, rests on the stonebrash
of the great oolite, with some of the higher ridges just
capped with forest marble clay; all parts of this, and espe-
cially the portion called the Deer Park, is full of the Oyno-
surus cristatus, which grows equally well on the brash and
the clay, and the thickness of the grass may be estimated
from the fact that scarcely six inches of space occurs with-
out its occupants of one or more of the diy sapless culms of

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES. 45

the ©. cristatus. Now this park is constantly stocked with
deer, Southdown sheep, horses, and oxen, by which the
general turf is kept well cropped down, and yet no dead
culms of any other grass will, as a rule, be found to prevail.
Let it therefore be borne in mind that this is different from
a meadow where the culms may become hard and woody
before cattle are turned into it: they are always here, and
keep every other grass from flowering but the one in ques-
tion ; it is therefore quite evident that here at least the
C. cristatus is not a favourite with deer or Southdowns.

Perhaps, however, it was Sinclair’s very observation of
the quantity of culms in Woburn Park that led him to con-
clude that it formed so great a mass of the herbage; but
if we bear in mind how very small and wiry these culms
usually are, and how short in the leaf are the tufts of grass
by which they are accompanied, we shall have reason to
conclude that after all C. cristatus may there form but a
small proportion of the herbage: at all events, we may
safely determine that, if the grass in its young state was so
favourite a pasture, it would, like others, be kept from
growing culms by constant depasturing, but the grass in
question seems all the more, because even the young shoots
are never cropped. From these observations we feel bound
to conclude that the C. cristatus is both a poor hay and
pasture grass, and neither in quantity nor quality of either,
worthy a place in a good meadow; and though it is true
that it improves vastly under liberal treatment, yet the
culms are left even in the lowlands on depasturing, and it
fortunately happens that improvement of a pasture will
cause the dying out of the greater portion of the grass in
question, as it is essentially one of the poor pasture which
cannot maintain its ground on the advance of other and
more important species. The culms are gathered in quan-
tity for straw-plaits, for which they are well adapted both
from their fineness and strength of fibre..

#** Snikelets (locuste) with three or more perfect flowers.
t Spikelets forming bilateral spikes.

46 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES.

Horprum—forets in threes, of which the central one
is fertile, the lateral ones usually imperfect ; glwmel
incorporated with the seed.

1. H. sylvaticum—wood lyme-grass—wood barley ; spike
smooth, upright; spikelets three-flowered; florets with a
long awn; leaves flat and drooping.—P. :

2. H. murinum—wall barley; spike about two inches
long; spikelets three-flowered; central perfect ; lateral
ones imperfect; all with long awns.—A. ;

3. H. pratense—meadow barley; spike smaller than in
the preceding; lateral florets with short awns ; central one
with an awn twice the length.—P.

The first of these, H. sylvaticwm, is usually named
Elymus Europeus, but its position is perhaps more natural
with the barley, though it would appear to have a greater
affinity with the cereal than the meadow types of the genus.
It is essentially a wood grass, with broad flat drooping
leaves, but as yet we know nothing of its character in
cultivation; but, having this year collected a lot of seed for
our garden, we shall hope soon to be able to add some facts
to its natural history.

As regards the H. murinwm, this is confined to sandy
soils, in which it is a sad weed, especially in corn fields,
banks, and hedge-rows—the tertiary sands of Suffolk, the
marine sands in the old Severn strait, decomposed sand-
stones, and indeed a perfectly sandy soil anywhere is
peculiarly liable to it: it is not strictly a grass of the
meadow, choosing the margins of fields, edges of pathways,
mounds, and hedge-banks. Its plentiful green herbage
grows very early, and is not deficient in nutritive properties,
so that it may be grown for soiling, but care should be
taken not to let it advance to flowering, as the long rough
serrated awns are most obnoxious to cattle, sticking about
the mouth and causing great irritation; from this cause
hay is much deteriorated by its presence, so that corners of
fields in which it may occur should not be mown with the
crop, but be cut earlier so as to prevent its seeding.

THE NATURAL IlISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES. 47

HL. pratense—much smaller than the former and decidedly
pastoral in its habits, growing in good grass-fields and
especially such as are liable to inundations, and also occu-
pying a place in irrigated meadows—its herbage is of good
quality, and all kinds of cattle graze and do well where it is
abundant; but though its awns are not so long or so stiff
as those of the H. murinwm, they are still highly objection-
able in the hay crop.

The presence of this grass is a good indication of condi-
tion, as it always occurs to a greater or less extent in good
meadows, but uniformly refuses to grow even in small
quantity either on poor heath or sour undrained clays.

Trit1cum—locusteé flat, alternate on the sides of the
central axis (rachis); glumes transverse; external
glumel either pointed or awned.

The only species that need be here described are the
following, which are distinguished from the rest of the
genus by their creeping roots :—

Triticum repens—creeping wheat or couch grass; glwmes
ribbed ; locuste of from four to eight florets; the glwmels
mostly awned, leaves broad and flat; rhizome much ecreep-
ing.—P.

T. junceum.—Rushy sea wheat-grass ; glumes obtuse, with
many ribs; locuste of from four to five florets, without
awns; leaves involute (folded) ; rhizome creeping.—P.

The first of these constitutes the detested couch of the
farmer, and is a grass more catholic in its tastes and habits
than almost any other; so much so indeed, that hedge-rows,
road-sides, the pasture-field, and waste places, no less than
arable lands, all upon every kind of soil, will be occupied by
it to a greater or less extent; and as lands in which it is
allowed to increase are considered par excellence as “ foul,”
the removal of couch is a matter in which all farmers are
occupied and interested. Considering, therefore, the per-
petual warfare that is waging against this grass, it is
surprising how much of it still remains, even in some well-

48 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES.

cultivated districts. Much of this may be accounted for in
the unploughed spaces under hedges or stone walls, in
which it seeds and thus forms a nursery for the fields ; and
besides, the rhizomes are cut off by the plough and become
scattered by the operation of the harrow, and thus a centre
is formed in the field, from which it spreads in like manner,
so that a quantity of couch has always to be got rid of.

Much of the evils arising from this grass may be pre-
vented by the timely use of the fork, which should always
be brought into requisition upon every couch centre that
may be detected, and that before ploughing for any and
every crop, as this instrument is capable of following the
plant in its depth as well as breadth, while the plough only
cuts it off for the depth limited by its operations. This
method, it is true, adds a little to the first expense of
tillage, but it saves much after trouble, and is far cheaper
in the end.

The same circumstance which renders the plant just
described so great a pest to the farmer, namely its creeping
habit of growth, should impel us to preserve the ZT. jwnceum,
as it is confined to sandy sea-shores, which its long, tough,
aud flexile rhizome assists in so matting together as to
prevent the encroachment of the sea-water on the coast.

Bracurpopium—locuste cylindrical, on short pedicels
alternate on the central axis ; glwmes unequal, trans-
verse.

B. pinnatum—heath false brome-grass—locuste of from
eight to twelve smooth florets; awns half the length of the
florets ; spike and leaves upright.—P.

B. sylwaticum—siender false brome-grass—locuste of from
eight to ten florets; florets hairy ; awn longer than florets ;
spike drooping ; leaves bent downwards.—P.

The habits of these two species are very different—the
former preferring poor open heaths and down lands, particu-
larly on limestone soils; the latter growing in hedgerows
and beneath woods and in shaded places. Agriculturally

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES. 49

they are both of them useless; but the former is well
worthy of study for its indication of soil and its condition.

The B. pinnatum will be found partially intermixed with
the grass of most poor upland pastures on limestone, to
which small isolated specimens it is confined under a con-
stant system of depasturing ; but if left wild or only occa-
sionally stocked, it is astonishing how quickly the least bits
spread into rounded patches, often of several yards in
diameter, which, if cattle be turned into in the summer,
they leave wholly untouched, and so it seeds, besides
spreading by short rhizomes until the greater part of a
pasture may be taken possession of by this useless and
distasteful grass.

The best way to get it under is to fold sheep on a portion
at a time, especially through the early spring, feeding them
with corn, hay, and a few turnips; in which case the dead
grass is trodden into manure, and the sheep manuring so
encourages the growth of the sprinkling of better species,
which before were thin and isolated, that the enemy is
subdued in an incredibly short space of time; even one
season being enough to destroy the greater portion, and
reclaim a pasture that was before going fast to waste.

The B. pinnatum is also a great pest in hedgerows and

‘on mounds, especially on the Cotteswolds, where it is a

constant denizen. It should be carefully forked from the
former, and before it has seeded, especially in the young
state of the fence, as, from its upright and close method of
growth, much injury results to the quick from being smoth-
ered, besides the exhausting powers which it possesses.

The B. sylvaticum is usually refused by all kinds of
animals, but, from the readiness with which it grows under
wood, it affords a tolerable covert for game.

Lorium—glume of one valve to the lateral (not trans-
verse), locuste, two to the terminal one; gluwmels
sometimes awned.

Lolium perenne—perennial rye-grass—locuste of from

50 THE NATURAL MWISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES.

six to eight florets, awnless; leaves mostly upright, of a
dark-green hue; of this there are several varieties.—P.

Lolium Italicum—locuste of from six to eight awned
florets; leaves broad drooping, of a light green colour.—B.

L. temulentum —locuste equal in length with the glumes.
—A.

The Z. perenne in its usual form is found almost every
where, but more especially in good pastures: brought under
cultivation as “seeds,” it is liable to a great number of
variations, especially in size and in a disposition to a greater
or less permanency of growth, and hence arise the many
names which its varieties are known by in the seed-market.
The properties of the true LZ. perenne are such as to render
it very valuable to the farmer, as it soon arrives at maturity,
yields a good weight to the rick, and in the meadow stands
depasturing to any extent, yielding a perennial supply of
good succulent leaves, which are readily eaten by stock of
all kinds. In arable culture, however, its permanency is
most uncertain, as it generally begins to die out, especially
after the first hay crop; and this all the sooner and the
more certain in proportion to the longer time the grass is
left before being cut.

The L. Italicum, which is perhaps after all only a variety
of the L. perenne, has been much recommended as a self-
grass, and particularly for soiling: the reports of its yield
under watering with sewage manure are almost fabulous:
however, on limestone soils, and on light lands in general,
if is now sown as a separate crop, in which case it comes in
for pasture in the following spring, in which state it may be
continued for onc or two years according to circumstances,
though it seems to be, strictly speaking, a biennial form.

These varieties of rye-grass are the only ones usually em-
ployed in seeds in this country, and they are either sown
by themselves or in company with different trefoils, such as
Trifolium pratense, T. medium, T. repens, Medicago lupu-
lina, and others. The principal reasons for its preference,
as stated by Sinclair, are the quantity of seed which it

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES. 51

produces, the readiness with which this can be collected,
and the facility with which it vegetates under circumstances
of different management.

LL. temulentwn—darnel—is an agrarian weed, now of
comparative rarity, and fortunately so, if the following
character of it be true: Sinclair says, “it has from the
earliest ages borne the name of drunken darnel, and there
can be no doubt of its deleterious qualities, whether in meat
or drink.” Parnell gives a modified opinion hereupon: he
remarks, “the seeds, it is said, when eaten, produce vomit-
ing, purging, violent colic, and death.” Linneus’ opinion
was, that the seeds, when mixed with bread, produced but
little effect unless when eaten hot; but if malted with
barley, the ale soon occasions intoxication. Sir J. E. Smith,
in his English Flora, says, “the seeds are of very evil
report, for causing intoxication in men, beasts, and birds,
and bringing on fatal convulsions.” Haller mentions them
as “ communicating these properties to beer.”’ Vol.i. p.175.
Hooker and all botanists follow in the same strain, but
merely quoting from each other, as none of them seem to
have any personal knowledge of its qualities. Of late years
it has been confined in its range, and so limited in quantity,
that we have never been enabled to procure sufficient to
follow out an investigation into this interesting matter; at
present, however, we confess to the belief that its injurious
qualities have been much overrated, if indeed the tales
about it are not altogether fabulous.

Foreign seeds, flax more especially, are almost sure to
yield a little of the plant on sowing.

tt Flowers paniculate, flowers more or less lax.

Poa—panicle lax ; locuste of from five to ten florets ;
glume of unequal valves, the inner glwmel notched at
the extremity ; part of the genus sometimes referred
to Glyceria.

1. Poa annua—locuste of about five florets, not webbed.

—A.
E

52 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES.

2. P. trivialis—locustae of about three acute webbed flo-
rets ; leaves with a rough sheath, ligule pointed.—P.

3. P. pratensis—locuste of about four acute flowers, with
a web; culm and herbage smooth ; ligule short and
blunt; rbizome creeping.—P.

oa

. P. compressa—culms flat, oval on a transverse section,
rhizome creeping.—P.

. P. nemoralis—locuste of three flowers, slightly web-
bed; ligule short; culms slightly compressed ; rhi-
zome indicated.—P.

6. P. fluitans—locuste of from seven to eight florets ob-

tuse, leaves broad and floating on the water.—P.

Or

1. This grass is found about mud-banks, road-sides,
ditches, and dirty places, a life for which its chemical analy-
sis shows it to be well adapted, as, according to Mr. Way,
it contains a large quantity of water and less ash, both in
the dried and undried grass, than any other species upon
which he operated; and upon this he remarks, that “the
specimen of annual meadow grass, Poa annua, differs from
all the others with which it is associated, both in the low
percentage of silica and the corresponding decrease in the
proportion of potash, which, whether calculated on the
natural or dry specimen, is peculiarly low ;” and to this is
appended the following note, “ Annual meadow grass is said
(see Lowe's Agriculture) to be the most productive of ail
the grasses: Is this in any degree to be attributed to its
more moderate mineral requirements?’ In an agricultural
point of view, this grass may be considered as a weed, as it
has scarcely any feeding properties; and though it some-
times presents an apparently green turf over alluvial flats,
and anywhere with a muddy subsoil, such grass affords, as
the farmers say, “ no heart’’—“no proof” init. On some
land of Lord de Mauley’s, celebrated for scouring cattle,
this grass was a prevailing one. It is a great pest in
garden-walks, increasing rapidly where allowed to seed.
Salt has been recommended for the prevention of its growth,

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES. 53

which it does for a time, but requires a constant renewal of
the dressing to quite keep it under.

2. Poa trivialis — rough-stalked meadow-grass. — This
Species is mostly confined to low and damp situations, often
forming a great part of the bulk of hay in river-side mea-
dows, but growing in the greatest abundance in irrigated
pastures, especially in such parts as though not stagnant
are always moist. Under the most perfect irrigation-system,
it is by no means abundant. As an upland grass it is never
met with in nature, and if employed in a mixture for such
situations it usually disappears in a few years. In its
favourite habitat it yields a large bulk of hay, but is usually
very late in its growth, and this is followed by a good bite
of aftermath; but our observations confirm us in the
opinion that it is very watery in its composition, and its
herbage is by no means of’ the sweet quality that belongs to
the best species. Sinclair, however, speaks very highly of
its properties, and in this he is followed by Parnell; he
says, “the superior produce of this Poa over many other
species,* its highly nutritive qualities, seasons in which it
arrives at perfection, and the marked partiality which horses,
oxen, and sheep have for it, are merits which distinguish it
as one of the most valuable of those grasses which affect
rich soil and sheltered situations.””— Hort. Gram. Woburn.,

. 88. .
: Now, we cannot say that we have observed any partiality
of cattle for this grass, and feel inclined to the belief that
the following circumstances have contributed not a little to
an over estimation of its qualities in this respect. If we
examine its progress we shall find that it is nearly a month
later than the general mass of the meadow grasses; so that
it is no wonder that cattle should choose the green leaves
of this species at a time when its congeners are in culm;
but this is no argument for its superior value; on the con-
trary, we are constantly being told, in the language of
the farmer, that hay from such situations has not the

* Here he does not mean of Poa, but other species of grasses.
E2

54 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES.

“proof” in it of that of the good sound meadow—a circum-
stance which may, no doubt, in part be attributed to the
quantity of water it contains, as shown by Mr. Way, in his
Fourth Report on the Analysis of the Ashes of Plauts,
to which we have been greatly indebted for some valuable
information, and from which we extract the following table,
showing the percentage of water in three species of Poa
compared with Phleum pratense.

Grass. Date of Water Nature of soil.
Collection. | per Cent.
Poa annua vs... May 28 79.14 Loam, with gravelly subsoil,
3 pratensis ....| June 11 67.14 Dry calcareous loam,
» trivialis....| June 18 73.60 Calcareous loam.

Phiewm pratensis .| July 11 57.21 Ditto.

From this, no less than long observations of its history
and general characteristics, we should feel disposed to rank
Poa trivialis as a very inferior grass to Poa pratensis, hold-
ing indeed, as far as the value of its hay and herbage is
concerned, an intermediate position between the latter and
Poa annua. Asaweed, the Poa trivialis is often exceed-
ingly annoying, especially on poor damp clays. We have
seen it in some of the stretches of the fuller’s-earth, choking
even the scanty crop of grain which this stratum will grow
when ill drained or otherwise unmitigated: it is however
easily got rid of by thorough-draining, and letting light and
air into this stubborn soil.

3. Poa pratensis —smooth-stalked meadow grass — is
very constant in pastures, and especially in those of the
best quality ; it yields a good bulk for the rick, and sends
up a quantity of herbage for the aftermath, which is less
injured by cold and other climatal changes than almost any
other species; its range is very wide, being found on dry
uplands, in deep loams, and in both flooded and irrigated
meadows, and should always be largely intermixed with
seeds in the laying down of permanent pasture. Thus it
will be seen that our experience of this species is quite at
yariance with that of the Hortus Gramineus Woburnensis,

THE NATURAL HISDORY OF BRITISH GRASSES. 55

in which it is stated, that “upon the whole it is an inferior
grass ; its strong creeping roots exhaust the soil ; its growth
after mowing is slow; and its spring growth, though early,
is inconsiderable; and upon the whole it is unfit to be
introduced among the superior sorts.”

Now, as regards the creeping roots, these are never strong
in the pasture ; if, however, the grass be employed in turf-
walks in the garden, it then spreads strong rhizomes into
the plots in contact, on which account it should never be
brought to such situations ; but how rhizomes could exhaust
the soil except by producing grass, we cannot make out;
the truth is, that all good grasses exhaust the soil if taken
off in the shape of hay, and this one especially by reason of
its good crops; but such{should be invigorated by manuring
and good cultivation, for which this species amply repays.

4. Poa compressa—fat-stalked meadow grass—can only
be looked upon as a weed, and its thin wiry rhizomes make
it very troublesome in some of the brashes of the inferior
and great oolite limestone rocks; the Gloucestershire
farmer distinguishes it by the name of squitch, whilst the
stronger rhizomes of Triticum repens are termed couch.
This weed is very difficult to get rid of, as it creeps beneath
the stones, so that the plough has but little chance with it,
and where it once takes root it is too rapid in its spread to
be mastered by the fork. The plan we have seen as most
effective is to sow white mustard in the wheat stubbles in
which it prevails, and, when eaten off by the sheep, apply a
dressing of decomposed farmyard manure, and plough up
for a winter fallow. In spring prepare for the turnip
crop, which should be sown on the ridge; by such means
the soil becomes deeper and better in quality—two circum-
stances which, besides want of rest, are highly prejudicial
to the growth of squitch.

5. Poa nemoralis —wood meadow-grass—though early,
yet yields so small a quantity of light culms and delicate
leaves as to render it scarcely worth cultivation; at the
game time, if cut early, it sends up a second crop of flowers ;

56 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES.

and its habits point it out as well adapted for glades in
parks, and under trees. Its herbage, though not of great
amount, is of good quality, and we have observed that cattle
eat it greedily.

6. Poa fluitans—floating meadow-grass. In this species
we have a form at first sight so distinct from Poa as almost
to entitle it to another generic name, which indeed by some
botanists has been given, in that of Gilyceria, a separation
which we should at once adopt, both from its structure and
habit, were this the only species in the group; but its con-
geners, P. maritima, P. distans, P. procumbens, sufficiently
unite it to the true Poas for all practical purposes. This
grass, with its evergreen leaves, will be constantly found
floating on the water of the pool or the stream; in the
summer it sends up some upright culms, which are more or
less branched, and, with the whole herbage, very sweet in
flavour, on which account cattle prefer it when young to
almost any other species; it is, however, remarkably liable
to become ergotised—a circumstance which would appear to
render it highly injurious to cattle which are obliged to par-
take of it, arising either from the ill effects of the ergot
itself, or the damp circumstances under which the grass
grows, or perhaps both causes combined. In some cases
which have come before us, abortion in cows has been fre-
quent in low meadows traversed by watercourses and wet
stretches in which this grass has been abundant.

‘We may here refer to another species in the Poa (Glyceria)
aquatica, which is a constant denizen of rivers, ditches, and
watercourses, where it frequently grows in thick masses of
large upright leaves and culms, while its creeping rhizome
assists in keeping up the mud and dirt, so that this plant
often becomes a serious obstruction in watercourses, in flat
countries especially, vitiating a whole system of draining
from keeping up the water. From such positions it should
be removed with as great care as weeds from a crop, and
indeed it may here not be out of place to state that several
species, not only of grasses but other plants, act prejudically

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES. 57

to the farm in general by being allowed in watercourses, and
no farm can be kept in good order without efforts are used
to destroy them.

The Poa aquatica and P. fluitans may now also be referred
to as having been subjects of some interesting experiments
in the garden of the Royal Agricultural College. Here,
some two years since, we sowed a plot of each of these
grasses which soon came up very well but did not flower
until the second year, when, to our astonishment, the crops
of the two beds were entirely alike in all their details of
leaves and flowers ; the new plants however being so entirely
distinct from either of the originals, and from every other
known British grass, as to present a matter of interest for
further investigation; and in order to this we have this year
endeavoured to collect wild seed of the two forms in ques-
tion, but as regards the Poa aquatica entirely without success,
as though a wide district has been carefully examined, in no
instance have we succeeded in finding any fertile seeds,
Plants therefore of the two forms have been obtained from
the Cirencester Canal and planted in our experimental plots ;
and if it should be ultimately proved by repeated and varied
experiments that a change of habitat from a residence in
water to one on dry land is capable of producing so great
an alteration in specific details, it will afford another inte-
resting proof of the curious physiological facts which are to
be elicited from experiments in the cultivation of grasses.

Briza—panicle lax ; locuste of from six to eight very
tumid florets; glumes equal, rounded, and with the
whole flower quite smooth.

Briza media—quaking grass—is so called from the rest-
lessness of its pendulous flowers, which are comparatively
heavy, and balanced on delicate rounded pedicels. Though
a beautiful species, it is of no use agriculturally ; however,
as it grows for the most part in poor, stiff, undrained clays,
it may always serve by its presence or absence as an indica-
tion of condition. If present in quantity, we may predicate

58 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES.

a stiff unmitigated clay, such as is found in the Lias shales,
Oxford clay, Forest marble, and London clays, and especially
where not visited by local deposits, undrained, or otherwise
badly cultivated ; these formations will be found to afford
too much of this species, and far too little of those of a
better quality. If, however, the soil be merely wet, and not
of a decidedly stiff description, less of the quaking-grass
will occur, but the specimens will be far larger in size, and
equally useless as food.

This grass is not touched by cattle, and, therefore, its
culms may be observed late in the season, usually accom-
panied by those of the Cynosurus cristatus. At any time
it yields little to even the scanty bulk of the hay from its
favourite habitats, and its short leaves render it useless for
pasture.

Daorynis—panicle with the primary branches long;
pedicels short, so that the flowers are clustered in
bunches; glume of two unequal valves arranged
obliquely ; glumel pointed, almost awned.—P.

Dactylis glomerata—cocksfoot—is too well known to need
further description, especially as we have but a single native
species to consider ; its agricultural capabilities render it an
important one to the farmer, as it yields a very large bulk
both of culms and long leaves to the hay crop, and a no less
proportion of aftermath; and though somewhat rough,
coarse, and woody in its culms, especially if left too long
before cutting, yet it presents for the most part a highly
nutritious and bountiful supply to the rick; it is, moreover,
remarkable for its quickness of growth after mowing, as in
a few days its light-green succulent leaves will be seen con-
siderably overtopping the surrounding turf; and if at this
time cattle be turned into the field, they invariably make a
first attack upon the young coeksfoot.

Sinclair, in speaking of this grass, says, “ By various tests
to which the leaves and stems were submitted at different
periods of their growth, the author found that the stems,

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES. 59

when full grown, contain more nutriment than the leaves
at any time ;” and his general conclusions respecting this
grass are, that “it is more valuable for pasture than for
hay, and, for the latter purpose, is superior to rye-grass and
many others.” “If constantly kept closely grazed, it yields
a greater profit than used in any other way, merely because
the leaves grow rapidly, and give a full bite.” This, though
appearing at first as somewhat paradoxical, is quite in
accordance with our own observations, which lead us to
conclude that, in all its stages, this is a highly valuable
grass. This view, again, is confirmed by Mr. Way’s analy-
sis, which determines it to belong to the best agricultural
species. It has the merit of growing in almost any soil,
and enduring a great range of climatal difference; it attains
to maturity, or at least to as great a bulk as any other
species, comparatively soon, and is, therefore, good for
admixture in the laying down of permanent pasture, and
might, we think be profitably employed in a mixture with
rye-grass in seeds. Its more robust and faster growth than
most other species should prevent its being used for lawns ;
and the admirers of cricket should take care to have it
expunged from their field—a consummation indeed which
will soon result, even when present, from plenty of practice
of the ‘noble sport.’

There is a variety in the seed-market known as giant
cocksfoot; it is not different from the usual grass when in
cultivation, which indeed sometimes attains gigantic pro-
portions.

Frstuca—ypanicle lax; glumes unequal; finely pointed
outer glwmel, with a short awn or bristle at the
summit.

In this genus, so far as the farmer is concerned, we have.
two types, which may be coveniently tabulated as follows:—
a. Leaves more or less setaceous (hairlike).

1. Festuca ovina—sheep’s fescue—leaves setaceous ; pan-
icle diffuse ; rhizome absent.—P.

60 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES.

Festuca ovina, var. duriuscula —hard fescue — leaves
nearly plane on the culm, those of the root inclining
to setaceous ; rhizome absent.—P.

Festuca ovina, var. rubra—creeping fescue—leaves in-
volute (rolled inwards at the edges), thus often
appearing setaceous; panicle inclining to one side;
rhizome more or less creeping.—P.

b. Leaves plane.

2. Festuca loliacea—spiked fescue—panicle spiked in two
rows, like Lolium perenne ; leaves long, broad, and
drooping.—P.

Hestuca loliacea, var. pratensis—meadow fescue—pan-
icle diffuse, inclining to one side; leaves upright and
succulent.—P.

Festuca loliacea, var. elatior—tall feseue—panicle large;
much branched; leaves harsh and rigid.—P.

On comparing our nomenclature with that of botanical
authors, it will be seen that it differs materially from all of
them ; our reasons for this course will be made apparent
from the following observations and experiments :—

Six years since we sowed separate plots of the three first
forms with seed from the Messrs. Gibbs; these came up
well, and soon established themselves in the separate tuft
method so peculiar to this group when unmixed with other
species. The first two years they were tolerably distinct,
now, however, the following facts are observable :—F. ovina,
duriuscula, and rubra, scarcely distinguishable in size or
details, while the creeping habit of root of the latter is
entirely lost. It may be remarked that the #. rubra is not
amongst our wild forms at Cirencester, but we have occa-
sionally met with specimens of F. duriuscula in the road-
dirt with which the tops of our stone walls are frequently
capped, having a decidedly creeping habit, which, if shown
as a tendency in the “light sandy pastures near the sea,”
which is given by Hooker as the habitat of the F. rubra,

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES. 61

may account for ovina taking on the rubra form in such a
locality.

As respects ovina and duriuscula, it may be remarked
that poor uplands present the first, the bushes and hedge-
rows of these the second, which is sure to prevail in good
upland meadows; but seldom are they greatly intermixed,
which perhaps may be taken as an argument that the vari-
ety is induced by the difference of circumstances. From
long observation of these, we can only consider them as
varieties of the same species, and had we choice of names
should choose for it F. dwriuscula, as the departure seems
to be from that type, of which the ovina is the mountain
form and the rubra a sea-side one.

Festuca loliacea varieties.—At the same time as the above,
were sown the three forms tabulated below in the following
order :—

F Festuca Festuca

stu k i

1 : ea loliacea, loliacea,

Rane var. pratensis. var. elatior.
Plot 1. : 2 3.

These plots the first year of flowering presented the fol-
lowing appearances :—

Plot 1. F. loliacea—most of the plants were of the true
spicate type, but were sparingly intermixed with paniculate
flowers; the herbage of all was of the rich green which
characterises the true type.

Plot 2. F. loliacea, var. pratensis—all came true, but
with a tendency to a rigidity of leaf.

Plot 3. F. loliacea, var. elatior—scarcely distinguishable
from plot 2.

In three years great changes had been wrought, as
under :—

Plot 1. No spicate flowers in the whole plot.

Plot 2, More rigid and larger; in fact, none of the true

type.

62 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES.

Plot 3. A little larger, but otherwise not distinguishable
from plot 2.

Now in the sixth year the F. elatior form prevails in all
the plots. Here, then, we think that it is satisfactorily
proved that these three forms are all referrable to a single
species, as the change has taken place, not by hybridisation,
but in individuals; at the same time they may maintain
their distinctive characters under the following circum-
stances :—

1. In meadows by the side of rivers, especially where
subjected to occasional floods—as the Isis at Oxford, or
irrigated meadows on the banks of the Churn at Cirencester.
The F. loliacea is constant, and is a most valuable grass for
hay or pasture.

2. In rich meadow flats, as in the vale of Berkeley, the
celebrated locality for the production of double Gloucester
cheese, the F. loliacea, var. pratensis, is a common and
valuable denizen, and any meadow where it maintains its
characteristics may be considered as good in quality.

3. On the alluvial sandy clay banks by the seaside, or
poor silicious clays inland, the variety elatior rears its tall
coarse form. In the county of Gloucester the warp mud
on the banks of the Severn estuary is always occupied by
this grass, which we look upon only as the extension of the
pratensis from the rich flats within the sea-wall boundary.

The F. pratensis is a grass which is always recommended
for admixture in forming new pastures, on which account
there can be but little doubt that it was used in the glades
laid down within the last few years at the entrance of
Oakley Park, the seat of the Earl Bathurst. When first
sown it came up true enough, though with a disposition to
harshness ; the last three years it has become elatior in all
its features, and is now in such large coarse tussacs, or
hassocks as they are technically called, as to make the spot
dissightly as a lawn and much impaired for hay or pasture.
The secret here appears to be that the soil consists of
sandy clays of the Forest marble rock, the texture of which

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES. 63

is very similar to that in the favourite habitats of this form
of grass.

Here, then, we see in these forms of fescue, plants which
assume what have been taken as specific differences, not
only from change of circumstance giving rise to varicties
which are maintained from seed, but assuming a varied form
from the same seed, and absolutely becoming pratensis, and
afterwards elatior, from a typical form of loliacea; and so
certain has been this occurrence in our own experimental
garden, that the result of twice sowing the three forms of
seed from different seedsmen has been the negative of lolia-
cea and pratensis and the permanent establishment of elatior
on all the plots.

As therefore F. clatior seems to be the more perfect state
of the grass, this name should more properly be attached to
the group.

In an agricultural point of view, the fescues afford widely
useful varieties, each of which is valuable under certain
distinct circumstances, and, indeed, under them keep their
typical forms, thus :—

Ff. ovina is essentially a grass of the thin soils resting on
rocky uplands, as on the mountain limestone, the oolites of
the stony Cotteswolds, and most mountain ranges.

F., var. duriuscula—in the valleys between such hills,
and in the more sheltered pastures in upland districts.

Ff, var. rubra—in sandy loams of the lowland meadow,
and by the sea-shore.

F. loliacea—rich meadows, on river-banks, or under irri-
gation.

F., var. pratensis— best lowland pastures not liable to
floods.

F,, var. elatior—on sandy clays, or other stiff or strong
land, especially on warped sea-shores.

In each of these situations the peculiar form is well
adapted for yielding, under the circumstances, as good a
crop and of as good quality as any other species. There
can be no objection to their encouragement in the habitats

64 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES.

indicated. The last, however, is exceedingly coarse, and
would thus only be adapted for the grazing of such cattle as
may occasionally be enabled to rough it.

Bromus — panicle lax; glumes more or less tumid;
outer glumel with a long awn from near its middle,
inner one ciliated, edged with fine hairs.

Of this genus there are several species which are of little
moment to the farmer; and indeed those in which he is in-
terested are, for the most part, rather enemies than friends.

Of these the following may serve as a synopsis :—

a. Annual.

1. Bromus mollis — soft brome, “lop” of the farmer—
locuste ovate, of from six to ten florets, upright, on
short pedicles; flowers and whole plant hairy.

2. B. mollis, var. racemosus—smooth brome—the same
as the preceding, only that the flowers are smooth
and glistening.

3. B. mollis, var. commutatus—field brome—locuste of
from ten to twelve smooth florets, more or less
drooping, upon long and slender pedicles.

4. B. secalinus — locuste of from eight to ten florets,
which are usually smooth, but in the sub-variety
velutinus are hairy; much drooping in seed, when
the florets are more distinct and separated than in
the other forms.

b. Perennial.
5. B. erectus—locuste upright, on short pedicles ; florets
lanceolate, smooth ; anthers bright orange.

The two first of these may practically be taken together,
as the racemosus can only be considered as a smooth form
of mollis, and by which the latter is but sparingly accom-
panied, being produced from the same sample of seed. It
is known by the farmer under the name of “lop,” and is a
detestable weed, especially in seeds, where it sometimes

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES. 65

prevails to such an extent as to form a greater part of the
hay-crop. In this case it is difficult of eradication, because
it is much earlier than the rest of the grass; and if the hay
be cut early, to prevent its seeding, there are always some
unflowered stems left behind, which will shoot up and seed
in the aftercrop. On this account it has been recommended
to be cut often, but, after all, this is a method of cure which
would frequently render a crop of seeds of comparatively
little use to the farmer. “Prevention, therefore,” says
Sinclair, “is most to be recommended,” and this is to be
achieved by judicious cropping and liberal treatment, and
more especially as this grass is mostly a denizen of poor
exhausted soils. But, above all, we should be particular
not to sow this grass with our crop—a process by which its
continuance is constantly ensured without proper care, and
which results in the following manner.

A dishonest farmer has a crop of seeds which may be very
foul, especially with the prevalence of lop. In this rase he
knows it will be not only a short but a poor crop of hay
and grass; he therefore seeds it, and the lop and the rye-
grass thus become inseparable, and the superior weight of
the former makes up a tolerable weight of seed, which, even
if sold at a reduced price because it is not of the best
quality, pays better than by any other mode of dealing with
it; and thus, as long as men are rogues enough to seed foul
patches, and others are so foolish as to buy the cheapened
produce, so long will this be a source of weeds. Yet, so far
as clean farming is concerned, we cannot consider any as
entitled to that name unless as well as destroying weeds it
also provides against sowing them. “ Prevention” is indeed
better than cure, as weeding, however judiciously performed,
is sure to leave enough of prolific enemies to continue the
pest, so that it is the best, and safest, and, we think, the
cheapest cure. We have been thus hard upon the lop, as
it can only be considered a weed, being an annual grass;
and, notwithstanding the high position in which my friend
Dr. Voelcker has placed it in Chemistry of Food, in respect

66 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES.

to its feeding properties, which places it among grasses of
superior quality, yet cattle will not eat it if they can pos-
sibly avoid doing so, and hay is always poor in which it
occurs, which is not to be wondered at when the lop, for
the most part, elects to grow in the most impoverished
soils.

Bromus commutatus we can only view as a variety of B.
mollis. Its situation is that of low damp irrigated mea-
dows, in which the mollis is quite exceptional, though, when
it does occur, it assumes the drooping habit of the commu-
tatus, and offers many intermediate states. Now, as we
have watched the laying out of poor pastures as irrigated
meadows, we have observed that two or three years is often
capable of changing the B. mollis, which was before alone,
into commutatus. Of course it may be considered that this
was in virtue of that law of substitution of one species for
another which universally occurs on a change of soil, but
we incline to think that much of this where it occurs is due
not merely to this cause, but to real change of form, as the
result of an alteration of condition and circumstance ; and,
as regards the grass under consideration, our chain of evi-
dence is nearly complete in establishing this position, when
it is stated that the B. commutatus, from the irrigated mea-
dows, most certainly in cultivation im my experimental
garden, has resulted in some fine examples of B. seculinus,
a form not before known there, and therefore not liable to
have led me into error, as might be the case where the
different varieties are wild natives.

That B. arvensis, and perhaps other forms, may by culti-
vation be shown to be varieties of an annual grass, of which
B. mollis is the common type, 1s an idea which seems to be
countenanced by the protean forms of mollis and its con-
geners.

B. erectus is a perennial brome, very partial to limestone
soils, and is one of the commonest grasses on the poor thin
oolite brashes, extending along the whole of the Cotteswold
chain of hills, from Bath to Chipping Campden; it is no

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES. 67

less prevalent on the chalk range, and the quantity of lime
which its ash contains may have something to do with this
preference. The per centage of this product (lime) in B.
erectus, when compared with some other species, is interest-
ing: we therefore copy it from Mr. Way’s Fourth Report
on the Analyses of the Ashes of Plants :—

Per centage of

Lime in Ash.
Festuca duriuscula (a common chalk species)... .. 10°31
Bromus erectus (upright brome) .. «- .. .. 10°38
Dactylis glomerata (cocksfoot) .. .. .. .. .. 5°82
Alopecurus pratensis (meadow foxtail) .. .. .. 3:90

Indeed as regards lime, out of sixteen species the B. erectus
is only exceeded by the following :—

Per centage of Lime,

Poa annua (annual meadow) .. .. .- .. .. 11°69

Phileum pratense (Timothy grass) .. .. .. «. 14:94
—the first of these always succeeding best on road-scrapings
from limestone road-metal, as Bristol limestone, and the
latter on alluvial mud-banks from rivers, which is always
full of shells. These are facts which, while they show the
general correctness of Mr. Way’s analyses, at the same time
point out their value and importance.

The B. erectus is usually refused by cattle; it is a tall
grass, but from growing few culms and long leaves it ap-
pears much more productive than it really is. Whatever
tends to the improvement of the pasture contributes to its
disappearance, and its presence in quantity may be held as
a sure sign of poverty of soil, as well as an evidence of its
calcareous nature.

Avena—panicle more or less lax; glwmes thin and
membranaceous; glwmels pointed, adherent to the
seed.

In this genus we have two divisions, one of which con-
tains strictly agrarian species, which are doubtful natives,
and are perhaps only derived from degenerated corn-oats.
The other contains very distinct plants, exclusively belong-
ing to the meadow.

FE

68 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES.

a. Agrarian oats.

1.— Avena fatua—wild oat—locuste of three florets ; glu-
mets hairy all over, outer one with a long stout awn
bent at right angles, the lower half twisted when
ripe.—A.

2. A. strigosa—bristle-pointed oat—locuste of two per-
fect flowers; glumels with two long bristly points
awned.—A.

b. Meadow Oats.

3. A, pratensis—locuste of from three to five florets;
leaves not hairy, finely serrated; whole plant rigid.

4. A. pubescens—locuste of three florets; outer glumel
jagged; leaves flat, more or less downy ; plants soft
and hairy.

5. A. flavescens—tlocuste of three florets, flowers small,
yellow, very numerous.

Avena fatua is a grass which almost universally accom-
panies agrarian circumstances, that is to say, it seldom if
ever occurs in a truly wild aboriginal state, but is an attend-
ant upon tillage, and in some soils is a most common and
detested weed in various crops, but more especially amid
grain, whether of wheat, barley, or oats; sometimes too
with beans or seeding vetches, or indeed in any crop which
is of sufficient duration to allow it to ripen, and from which
it is not eradicated in weeding by the hoe.

It is a tall grass, rivalling the height of the finest culti-
vated oat, from some forms of which, and especially those
with a lax panicle, it is at a first glance not readily distin-
guishable; however a more careful examination and com-
parison with the so-called Avena sativa enables us to make
out the following differences :—

Avena fatua—Wild Oat. Avena sativa—Cultivated Oat.

Florets usually three, each armed Florets usually two, either with
with a stiff awn, which is bent in | or without awns, but straight and
the middle, the lower part twisted | less rigid when present than in A.
when ripe; covered, more particu- | fatua; quite smooth externally, and
larly at the base, with straight | somewhat tumid from its enlarged
harsh bristles; seed small and] seed or grain for which the plant
worthless. is cultivated.

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES. 69

The experiments about to be detailed were performed
with the Avena fatua. In the autumn of 1851 we collected
some seed of the wild oat, putting it aside for spring plant-
ing, and in the spring of 1852 drilled a plot of 23 yards
square with the seed that had been kept during the winter
—a fact to be carefully noted, as it forms a first and most
important link in our chain of evidence, thus constituting
what we shall hereafter revert to as a cultivative process.
The seed came up well, the plants on ripening were tall
and robust, and the grains presented a scarcely appre-
ciable difference from the wild examples, but if anything
there might have been a slight tendency to increase in the
quantity of flour. The seeds again collected and preserved
through the winter were sown in a patch of similar size in
a different part of the garden in the spring of the following
years 1853-54-55, with little alteration from year to year,
though in some examples the following tendencies seemed
from the first to be gaining strength :—

1. A Gradual decrease in the quantity of hairs on the
florets.

2. A more tumid grain, in which the covering “skin”
was less coarse and the awn less stout and straighter.

3. A gradually increased development of kernel or flour.

The seeds of 1855, without selection, were treated through
the winter the same as before, and sown in the spring of the
present year, the resulting crop, gathered in the latter end

of August, presenting the following curious variations :—
Proportion of each.

lst. Avena fatua, wild oat of the true type, with large loose
panicles of flowers, thin hairy florets, with the bent
awn twisted at the base... 5

2nd. Avena fatua, var. sativa, with loose panicles of Aomems,
florets quite smooth and tumid, with or without
straight awns, some few examples slightly hairy
towards the base. This is near the potato-oat type 6

3rd. Avena fatua, var. sativa. Panicles more compact,
flowers inclining to one side, grains more tumid
than 2, quite devoid of hairs, awn straight. These
present the type of the white Tartarian oat . 12

70 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES.

Each of these forms is now separately saved for further
experiment, whilst the shed seeds of the plot are left to
grow as they would do in nature, with the view of demon-
strating the downward progress by the reverse methods to
those adopted in the cultivated ones.

We may add here, that in the article Avena in Morton’s
Cyclopedia of Agriculture, Dr. Lindley referred to the pro-
bability of the wild origin thus demonstrated, suggesting
that the cultivated oat is “a domesticated variety of some
wild species, and may be not improbably referred to Avena
strigosa, the bristle-pointed oat, which would become the
common oat by a slight alteration of the form and division
of its pales and the loss of one of its awns—changes much
less considerable than are known to have taken place in
other cultivated plants.”

The experiments, as far as they have now gone, show us
in the clearest possible manner that the Avena fatua is the
parent of our cultivated oat, and that not only of one but
of more forms or varieties produced in the same space of
time and by the same series of operations,—conclusions
which cannot be other than interesting to the botanist,
whilst to the farmer they offer considerations no less curi-
ous in theory than important in a practical point of view.

If we can produce the cultivated from the wild weed oat,
it follows that the weed may result from a degeneracy of
the cultivated form; and this will serve to show how true
the instincts of the old-fashioned farmer not unfrequently
were, as we remember that some years since a main objec-
tion to the growth of oats on stiff lias clays was, that they
left behind them wild oats; and all who have had to deal
with them asa weed, as not unfrequently occurs on the
stiffer lands of the lias, Forest marble, or Oxford clays, may
well dread any cause of its increase. As a botanical notion
this was never well received, but viewed as impossible by
the species-maker ; however, actual experiment has at length
demonstrated its truth, and it may just be mentioned that a
confirmation of this has in the mean time been arrived at

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES. 71

by a different process, which we can now only shortly detail.

On the examination of stray plants of oats from shed
seeds, where the year before oats had been the crop, examples
are not uncommon with a few hairs at the base of the floret,
whilst the awn will be mostly stiffer than those in the crop ;
and this on thin soils, where wild oat is not usual as a weed.
Again on stiff clays, in which the weed prevails, many inter-
mediate forms or degrees of wildness will be observable,
perhaps derivable from the cultivated oats brought to the
soil in manures.

But further, if we examine oats grown on good oat-lands,
we are aware of the following characteristics—a greater
weight to the bushel, and a more plump grain with a finer
coat and the awns scarcely more than bristles; and, as we
know from observation, these qualities are immediately
reversed if we sow good oats from a favourable oat-soil
in a district unfavourable to the growth of this corn.

Here, then, the result of our experiments and observa-
tions is to show that the wild oat by cultivation will yield
different sorts of a cultivated or crop oat; so that new
varieties, and that direct from the original source, are easily
attainable; and also that the cultivated oat may degenerate
into the wild form from which it has sprung, and in some
soils in a very short space of time.*

A, strigosa, like fatwa, is in all probability derived from
some cultivated form, or, as Professor Lindley has hinted, it
may be the wild form from which some cultivated examples
have been derived ; it is only found as an agrarian, and that
very rarely, being more common in Scotland than in Eng-
land, its place with us being supplied by the A. fatua.

Avena pratensis, in the stiff untractable land in which it
delights to grow, can only be considered as a pasture weed,
which, however, can soon be got rid of by draining and
better cultivation; in short, whatever tends to the ameliora-

* In this Report several curious botanical changes which took place

as the experiment progressed have not been noticed, as they would unne-
cessarily burden the subject for the general reader,

72 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES.

tion of the soil will quickly cause it to die out. It is too
harsh to be eaten by cattle, so that it is fortunate that it is
seldom to be met with in large quantities, being by far the
rarer form of the meadow species.

A. pubescens.—Besides its general hairiness, this is well
distinguished from the preceding by its very short upper
leaves, which, when compared with .4. pratensis, may be
estimated as follows :—~

Proportions of | Proportions of | Proportions of

Leaf-blade. Sheath. Leaves of base.
Avena pubescens... .. 1 20 10
os pratensis .. .. 10 25 40

Its habitat is that of light upland pasture, in which it often
forms a conspicuous feature, affording, however, but a small
weight to the crop from the exceeding lightness of the
culms and flowers, and its short after-leaves produce but
little to the pasturage ; it is, however, a sweet grass in all
its stages, and one which is well kept down by depasturing
at all seasons. A small proportion in laying down perma-
nent pasture in the upland meadow will hence be not
without advantage.

A. flavescens is, for the most part, a denizen of calcareous
soils, on which it thrives remarkably well, being, though
small, equal in point of produce to most other grasses by
which it is surrounded, arising from the weak growth of
some commoner and larger species on thin brashes. On
this account it is a grass of great importance for admixture
in light upland or limestone pastures, as it affords some
sweet hay and no less good herbage for grazing—a circum-
stance which, as Sinclair justly remarks, recommends it to
form part of even richer meadows, “and more especially if
the land be elevated and without good shelter, as it thrives
better under such circumstances than any other;” and
animals are very fond of it.

THE NATURAL HISTORY OF BRITISH GRASSES. 73

Puracmites—Panicle more or less compact; glumes
and glumels finely pointed, the latter very unequal,

Phragmites communis (Arundo phragmites) — common
reed—is too well known to need description; it grows in
abundance on the margins of rivers and pools, and is made
available for thatching purposes. In hedgerows and damp
places, on clay soil, it will often be found on badly managed
parts of the farm, where its great size and stout rhizomes
make it a troublesome weed. Draining, however, is an
effectual remedy, to which end this and kindred species are
often useful, as directing attention to the state of affairs,
not only as regards broad extent but in isolated patches.

Baily, Printer, Cirencester.

ohm rer ter
ee pertahiad

ia
ante
abner

eas ga
aeeattieet Lee
Fah SMe sy

Saeed